Rams, Bears Lose Again
Thursday, December 08, 2011
VIRGINIA TECH 78 URI 67
There’s no shame in losing to an ACC team like Virginia Tech. Rhode Island fans can accept that. But when it follows losses to Maine, Brown, Cleveland State and Boston University and drops your record to (1-8) to start the season, it does make it a little more difficult to handle.
The URI Rams put up a fight Wednesday night at the Ryan Center, their best since they played the Texas Longhorns in Austin back on November 15th. The problem is that it wasn’t enough to beat a good Hokies team. Virginia Tech beat the Rams 78-67.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRhody jumped out to a 7-0 lead just over 3 minutes in before the Hokies battled back to eventually tie things up at 9-9 four minutes later. A see-saw first half saw Virginia Tech lead by one 28-27 at the break.
The game remained close until there less than 7 minutes left when an Eric Green (24 points) 3-pointer put the Hokies up by seven 56-49. From that point on, Virginia Tech was able to hold URI at bay and finish off the 11-point victory.
Nikola Malesevic led the Rams with 23 points. Jamal Wilson (11) and Jonathan Holton (10) were the only other Ram players in double figures.
Rhody continued to struggle from beyond the 3-point arc going just 2 for 11 (18%). The good news is, that they didn’t just throw up a bunch of threes and, instead, worked to take better shots.
While it was another loss for the struggling Rams, the effort was a positive sign. The trademark of Jim Baron’s teams since his arrival in Kingston has been their tremendous work ethic. For maybe the first time in his 11 years here, that seemed to be lacking over the last 4-5 games.
Rhody travels to Georgia State for a Saturday afternoon match-up with the Panthers. Georgia State is (6-3) and plays out of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Panthers are riding a 6-game winning streak after starting the season (0-3) and will have had a week to prepare for the Rams having last played on December 3rd when they defeated William & Mary 66-34.
NEW HAMPSHIRE 69 BROWN 56
The Bears have hit a rough patch after their upset win over URI one week ago. Brown got handled at Iowa and PC before falling to UNH Wednesday night at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
Brown’s offense got off to another slow start as the Bears let the Wildcats jump out to a 15-2 lead just 5 minutes into the game. But that’s when the Bears’ defense buckled down and the team clawed its way back into the game tying things at 20-20 with 2:48 to play in the first half.
After trailing by 5 at the half (27-22), Brown was within one 49-48 with 6:21 to play. That’s when Chandler Rhoads (16 points) and Alvin Abreu (18 points) nailed back-to-back three’s to help the Wildcats pull away.
Junior forward Andrew McCarthy continued his strong play of late registering a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. “Andrew played really well again for us,” said Brown head coach Jesse Agel. “He had to do it all on the boards for us most of the night because we had him playing with four guards. He played well.”
Opponents seem intent on making life very difficult for Brown’s talented backcourt of Sean McGonagill (15 points on 3 of 15 shooting) and Stephen Albrecht (5 points on 1 of 7 shooting). The Bears’ two leading scorers are having to work extremely hard for their offense.
For the second straight game junior forward Dockery Walker was not in uniform due to illness. Brown also learned that junior co-captain Tucker Halpern will not play this season as he continues his recovery from mono. Halpern will take the year off from school so that he can have two years of eligibility remaining to play on College Hill.
The Bears face a stiff test on Saturday when they play their final game before exam break. Central Connecticut visits Brown Saturday at 2pm.
