Ram Rally Falls Short In A-10 Opener
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
Dan Hurley doesn't have enough talent on his roster to compete in the upper echelon of the Atlantic Ten just yet. But that doesn't mean his team won't fight tooth and nail to win every game they play.
Wednesday night in Rhody's A-10 opener at Richmond, the Rams rallied from 18 points down with just over 5 minutes to play to pull to within 1 point of the Spiders with :30 seconds to left. Unfortunately, the Rams couldn't complete the comeback losing 64-61.
Richmond led from start to finish in this one and held a 10-point lead at the half 38-28. The Spiders would extend that lead to as many as 18 points (60-42) with 5:17 to play. From that point on, Rhody staged a furious rally.
An old fashioned three-point play by Mike Aaman (13 points, 12 rebounds) followed by three consecutive trifectas from Xavier Munford (25 points) in a two minute stretch pulled the Rams to within six 60-54.
With :30 seconds to go, a Munford jumper made it 60-59 Richmond but, with the shot clock off, Rhody was forced to foul.
Kendall Anthony (9 points) and Wayne Sparrow (5 points) each made two free throws to help the Spiders survive the scare.
Darien Brothers led Richmond (11-5, 1-0 A-10) with 15 points.
The loss drops Rhode Island to (5-9) overall and (0-1) in the Atlantic Ten.
The Rams return to the Ryan Center to host Charlotte (13-2, 1-0) at 2pm. The 49ers beat LaSalle in their A-10 opener Wednesday night.
Comments:
Rod Carri
1:24am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
We also had X getting clearly held with 21 seconds left and a one point game at the time. Even the Richmond announcers said it was a horrible non call.
Munford was awesome.
This team has no quit!
Scott Cordischi
3:07pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
No question Rod! Hurley has definitely put his stamp on this program from a standpoint of how aggressive they play. When he can add his recruits/transfers to the mix in the coming years, it could be very exciting.