URI Basketball Beats Boston University, Cox Gets 50th Win
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team opened the season with a 71-62 win over Boston University Tuesday night in Kingston.
Rhode Island never trailed and the Rams' head coach David Cox picked up his 50th career victory as the Rams
URI (1-0) was led by the starting backcourt of Jeremy Sheppard, Ishmael Leggett and Ishmael El-Amin. The trio combined for 43 points and spearheaded a defensive effort that limited the Terriers (0-1) to 36.4 percent shooting from the floor.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut the game was never out of reach for BU. URI never trailed in the contest. It led by as many as 12 in the second half. BU managed to trim the lead to four with 2:15 remaining after a pair of Sukmail Mathon made the score 59-55. However, El-Amin hit a 3-pointer with 1:07 to go, and he and Leggett both were 4-of-4 at the free-throw line in the final 45 seconds to ice the win.
Big Stats
Ishmael Leggett scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 6-of-7 at the free throw line. Defensively, he had three steals.
Jeremy Sheppard had 12 points, three rebounds and three steals.
Ishmael El-Amin finished with 13 points, nine of which came in the second half.
The three guards combined to shoot 17-for-18 at the free throw line. El-Amin was 8-for-8, Leggett was 6-for-7 and Sheppard made all three of his attempts.
Makhi Mitchell was the fourth Ram in double digits, scoring 11 points to go with five rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals.
Jalen Carey offered a solid 15 minutes off the bench, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds.
Rhode Island had a 21-8 edge in points off turnovers and a 16-6 advantage on the fast break.
Attendance for the game was listed at 5,133.
Up Next
Rhode Island returns to the Ryan Center Friday night when it hosts Bryant. Tip time is 6 p.m. for the contest, which is the opening game of the Sunshine Slam.
