March 12, 2010

Box Score |  Notes

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The Rhode Island men's basketball team (23-8) defeated Saint Louis 63-47 Friday afternoon at Boardwalk Hall and will advance to the semifinals of the 2010 Atlantic 10 tournament.

Rhody advances to the semifinals of the league championship for the first time since the 2006-07 season with the win.

Senior Lamonte Ulmer led URI offensively as he netted 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Freshman Akeem Richmond and sophomore Orion Outerbridge also chipped in with 13 and 10 points apiece.

Defensively, Rhody held its opponent to under 50 points for the first time since Jan. 21, 2006 (URI 58, Richmond 46).

Both teams were tied at eight points apiece in the first four minutes of the game. Over the next three minutes, both teams went cold as no team scored a point. The Billikens snapped the scoreless streak at the 12:15 mark and went on to open up a 13-8 lead.

Rhody responded as Richmond stopped the Rams draught as he hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Rams their first lead of the game with just under nine minutes to play in the opening period.

In the final eight minutes of the first half, Rhody outscored SLU 12-5 and took a 28-19 lead into the locker room. Saint Louis' 19 first half points marked just the second time this season that Rhody had held an opponent to under 20 points in the first half.

Richmond had a game-high 12 points in the opening half, as he connected on 4-of-7 shots from beyond the arc. In the process, he became just the fifth Atlantic 10 freshman since 1996 to connect on at least 70 treys in a single season.

Rhody came out of the locker room firing as it opened up a 15-point lead (40-25) with 14:00 minutes to go in the game. During the first six minutes of the second half, Rhody outscored SLU 12-6. Ulmer scored six points in that stretch.

The Rams went on to lead by double-digits for the remainder of the second half to secure the win.