March 11, 2011
Final Stats
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team fell in the quaterfinal round of the 2011 Atlantic 10 Tournament at the hands of the Richmond Spiders by a score of 55-45 on Friday night at Boardwalk Hall.
Senior Marquis Jones paced the Runnin' Rams with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Jones also chipped in with four assists and four rebounds, while junior Jamal Wilson had 12 points and nine rebounds. Senior Delroy James chipped in with 10 points.
Kevin Anderson led all scorers with 21 points on 5-of-15 shooting for the Spiders.
The Runnin' Rams jumped out to an early 7-3 lead as Wilson converted a jumper in the lane and one from long range to give Rhody the advantage just under five minutes in. Anderson would give Richmond its first lead of the game at 9-7 as the Spiders went on a 6-0 run following the first media timeout of the opening half.
Later in period, Jones converted five straight points for Rhody as they took back the lead at 16-15 with 7:26 left in the first. But UR would go on an 8-0 run that was capped by Anderson's three-point play with 6:09 left to give the Spiders their biggest lead of the half at 23-16.
The Runnin' Rams would go on the defensive the rest of the first half as they held Richmond scoreless over the final 6:09. Wilson and Jones continued to carry Rhody as they each hit baskets to cut the Spiders' lead to 23-20 heading into the locker room.
Jones led all scorers with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting while Wilson chipped in seven on 3-of-3 shooting. Anderson led the way for the Spiders with eight points.
After being held scoreless in the first half, James started the second on fire as he converted six points to help get the score back in Rhody's favor at 28-26.
Both teams would trade baskets for much of the early portion of the second half before the Spiders would go on a 10-0 that was capped by a Francis Martel dunk with 7:31 remaining in regulation to give Richmond the 41-32 lead. James would quickly answer on the other end for the Runnin' Rams as he hit a lay-up to put the score at 41-34 with 7:05 left in the game.
Anderson put the game out of reach for the Runnin' Rams as he drained a three-pointer with 36.6 remaining in the game to put the Spiders up by ten at 52-42.
Sophomore Akeem Richmond later answered with a three-pointer of his own with 15.7 seconds remaining to cut the defect to 53-45 but UR would hit its free throws down the stretch to end Rhody's A-10 Tournament hopes by defeating URI by a final score of 55-45.
Richmond moves on to tomorrow's semifinal round against Temple. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. from Boardwalk Hall.
