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BY MATT SWISS
GoRhody.com Senior Staff Writer
URI hosts Fordham on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the final home contest of a disappointing 2011-12 season. A rematch game between the two Rams squads, Rhody will look to avenge its 66-64 loss in the Bronx back in January.
It will also mark the final Ryan Center appearances for Orion Outerbridge and Anthony Malhoit - two players who have shown tremendous maturity and tenacity on the court in spite of the team's struggles.
This past Saturday against Saint Louis, it was Outerbridge's second effort that helped set the table for Rhode Island's thrilling last-second victory. After SLU raced out to a 12-4 lead, Outerbridge found himself on the bench at the 16-minute mark of the first half. He checked back into the game with 6:51 left and proceeded to score eight of URI's final 16 points of the half. Double-O finished with a team-high 18 points.
Saint Louis was one of Rhody's toughest matchups of the season. On paper, URI was 5-23 and SLU 22-5. The Rams had lost five in a row, the Billikens were the victors in their last five and nine of their last 10. On paper, the Rams should have been no match for Rick Majerus' NCAA bubble team that was knocking on the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches top 25 national polls.
Well, as the saying goes, that is why they play the game. Records and tournament resumes are not always a testament of one's heart, effort and determination. That was proven when a Billy Baron 14-footer with 4.6 ticks remaining lifted the struggling Rams to a dramatic 64-62 victory in front of 4,065 loyal Rhody hoops fans.
"Nikola [Malesevic] came off the screen but he was covered pretty well so I wanted to get to the hoop," Baron said of his ultimate game-winner. "I was able to get to my left and thankfully I was able to hit the shot. I'm just really thankful we got this win tonight."
While it was Baron's theatrics that ultimately got the job done late in the game, the victory as a whole was the exact definition of a complete team effort. And many of the crucial plays in the win were made by key members of Rhody's future.
Freshman big man
Jonathan Holton paced the Rams early on and kept an otherwise relatively flat Rhody team within striking distance with his 11 points and five rebounds in the first half. Plagued by foul trouble, Holton was limited to just nine minutes of play in the second half before fouling out. But fortunately, Malesevic picked up the slack in a big way from an energy standpoint, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking two shots in final 20:00 of play.
"My shot wasn't falling today so I tried to do other things to help my team win like hustle, rebound, get blocks, get steals," Malesevic said, "anything to bring the team together to win the game."
While they combined for just six points, frosh reserves T.J. Buchanan and Dominique McKoy made two of the biggest plays down the stretch. After a Rhody 8-0 run made it 53-51 with 6:37 left, Saint Louis called timeout and set up a play that yielded its fourth 3-pointer of the half. Buchanan responded with a big driving bucket on the next URI possession, keeping the Rams within three points with 5:50 to go.
McKoy also had a big bucket, a driving jumper in the lane with 2:18 left, which cut the Billikens lead to just two - at 62-60. The 6-7 lefty from Atlanta also came up the defensive rebound with 31 ticks left off a SLU 3-point attempt. That big board sealed the stop which set up the game winning shot. The two also played a vital role in Rhode Island's lock-down zone defense, which held St. Louis to just 8-27 from the field in the second half.
"I think guys bought in," Outerbridge said of a zone defense that made him feel he was watching Syracuse. "We gained confidence when they started missing some shots. They hit a few here and there but they were missing a lot more than they were making. The more they missed, the more confident we got, and the harder we played. We just dug down and did a real good job."
With just two games remaining and a trip to the Atlantic 10 Tournament already out of the question, Rhody continues to play for pride and pride only. Saturday's win showed the great deal of character this year's group of Runnin' Rams has and, perhaps more importantly, it showed just how talented this group can be going forward.
And as a program that now looks to the future – beginning tomorrow night - the final two games of the 2011-12 season may very well be foreshadowing for the 2012-13 campaign.
