Team Standings | Individual Results

KETTERING, Ohio - Rhode Island finished strong at the Moraine Intercollegiate, shooting 2-under par as a team in the final round to place fourth in the 14-team field Tuesday.

Half of the field in the Moraine came from the Big East, Big Ten and SEC. Rhody was the top finisher among the non-power conference schools, while also finishing ahead of Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Connecticut. The Rams also finished ahead of the two other Atlantic 10 schools in the field, VCU and Dayton.

"This was a very satisfying experience for us on many levels," Rhode Island head coach Gregg Burke said. "Not many URI teams have the opportunity to play five Big Ten teams and a top SEC team in any of our sports, so we are grateful for the opportunity. What is so satisfying is that we represented ourselves and URI so incredibly well.

"That all said we should have won the golf tournament. We gave away six shots over the final eight or nine holes yesterday and we gave away five today over the final five or six."

Xavier (832) won the team title by finishing three strokes ahead of Illinois (835). The only other team ahead of URI was Missouri (836). Xaiver's Cayse Morgan topped the individual leader board by finishing 9-under par.

Rhode Island (840) was followed by VCU (842), Iowa (844), Penn State (847), host Miami (Ohio) (847), Ohio State (850) and Dayton (852).

"We've been here before," Burke said. "We won our first two tournaments and then played our way to a 19-over at UConn in the first round, and we were out of the tournament. Coming in fourth against what people call the big boys means little if we don't back it up the next could weeks."

It was a balanced team effort throughout the tournament that helped Rhode Island. Junior Tony Liu and sophomore Luke Stennett tied for 11th place in the 78-player field. Liu and Stennett both finished 5-under par and were both under par in all three rounds.

"I thought Tony was really important to us because we are aching for someone to play as well as Luke," Burke said. "Tony is 10-under over the last four rounds, which is great golf given the golf courses we've played."

Stennett had just four bogeys over the final two rounds of the tournament.

"Obviously Luke was very solid and I was especially proud he made so few bogies," Burke said. "Certainly he would have liked to make more birdies, but his bogey avoidance was spectacular."

Sophomore Tyler Bruneau was even par for the three rounds, while senior Aidain O'Donovan was one stroke behind him. Rhode Island's top four players overall were all among the top 32 individual scores in the field. The fifth player, Josiah Tong moved up 12 spots on the leader board in the final round.

Tong's resilience earned praise from Burke. Despite bogeys on three of his first six holes, Tong delivered five birdies in a span of eight holes.

"I also have to give a nod to Josiah who started out very poorly but never gave up," Burke said. "He birdied five out of eight holes late in the round and we ended up using his ball."

Rhode Island next competes at the Nassau Intercollegiate in Glen Cove, N.Y.

Team Standings
1. Xavier - 275-276-281=832
2. Illinois - 279-274-282=835
3. Missouri - 269-278-289=836
4. Rhode Island - 279-279-282=840
5. VCU - 282-278-282=842
6. Iowa - 282-272-290=844
T-7. Penn State - 277-276-294=847
T-7. Miami (Ohio) - 281-278-288=847
9. Ohio State - 284-272-294=850
10. Dayton - 292-276-284=852
11. Michigan - 287-286-282=855
12. Connecticut - 284-286-294=864
13. Wright State - 293-289-294=876
14. Bowling Green - 299-293-312=904