Feb. 9, 2011

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KINGSTON, R.I. - Senior Marquis Jones scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Rhode Island men's basketball team (15-9; 6-4 Atlantic 10) past Dayton 67-53 Wednesday night at the Ryan Center.

Eleven of Jones' 20-points came in the second half. He also dished out a game-high five assists. Since the 2007-08 season, the Runnin' Rams are 30-7 when Jones dishes out five assists or more.

Fellow senior Delroy James and sophomore Nikola Malesevic also scored in double figures as they finished with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

As a team, Rhody outrebounded Dayton 40-35 and outshot the Flyers 40.6-35.2 percent from the field.

The Rams came out firing as they opened up a 15-6 lead at the 12:24 mark. Jones scored seven points during the stretch. Dayton charged back as it went on a 21-0 run over the next nine minutes to take a 27-15 lead with 3:43 to go until the break.

Rhody finally broke its scoreless streak thanks to a layup by James. URI would then go on to cut the Flyers' lead to seven thanks to a 7-2 push, but still trailed 29-22 at the half.

However, Dayton's seven-point halftime advantage evaporated in a hurry after Rhody went on a 14-2 run to open the second half and added an 8-1 scoring stretch to go up 44-36.

The Rams would not trail for the remainder of the game and would later go on to lead by as many as 19 points. Rhody outscored Dayton 45-24 in the second half.

The Rams return to action on Saturday as it welcomes Charlotte to Ryan Center. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.