Rhode Island Starters
Russell, Sheppard, Walker, Leggett, Makhel Mitchell
 
Duquesne Starters
Dunn-Martin, Okani, Weathers, Hughes, Baker
 
How it Happened
Rhode Island could not contain Marcus Weathers, who led Duquesne to an 86-75 over the Rams Saturday night in the regular-season finale.

Weathers scored a career-high 28 points to go with 14 rebounds. His variety of shots were a big reason the Dukes shot 53.4 percent from the floor. Duquesne (8-8, 7-7 A-10) opened the game hot from the outside, hitting 8-of-11 from the perimeter. In the first half. Chad Baker led the Dukes with 13 points and was 4-of-4 from deep, while Tavian Dunn-Martin added nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from outside. With them doing damage outside, Weathers hurt Rhode Island in the paint. He scored 13 points and had seven rebounds in the first half.

Rhode Island (10-14, 7-11 A-10) got the score within six points when Makhel Mitchell hit a jumper 26 seconds into the second half. However, Duquesne scored the next four points to make it a double-digit lead. From there, Rhode Island did not get the deficit below eight points until the final minute of the game, when Fatts Russell hit a 3-point basket with 1:01 remaining. That was as close as the Rams got.

Inside the Box Score

• With the loss, Rhode Island is locked in as the No. 10 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship.
• Senior Fatts Russell scored a season-high 27 points to go with five assists and two steals.
• Russell's second assist of the night was the 400th of his career. He became the fourth player in program history to score 1,500 points and collect 400 assists, joining URI Athletics Hall of Famers Carlton 'Silk" Owens, Tom Garrick and Tyson Wheeler.
• Junior Malik Martin was the only other Ram in double figures, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds.
• Rhode Island's bench outscored Duquesne, 24-4.
• Redshirt junior Antwan Walker offered nine points and five rebounds.
• Sophomore Makhel Mitchell had eight points and four rebounds despite being limited by foul trouble.
• Redshirt junior D.J. Johnson had six points, all of which came in the first half.
• Rhode Island committed just eight turnovers.

Up Next
Rhode Island heads to the Atlantic 10 Championship in Richmond, Va. The Rams will be the No. 10 seed and play on Thursday, March 4 at 3:30 p.m. on NBCSN. Rhody will face the yet-to-be-determined No. 7 seed.