Rhode Island Basketball: Rams earn must-win victory over William & Mary

By Carmine Carcieri | Dec 23, 2016

Nov 20, 2016; Uncasville, CT, USA; Rhode Island Rams head coach Dan Hurley reacts from the sideline against the Duke Blue Devils in the second half at Mohegan Sun Arena. Duke defeated Rhode Island 75-65. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports /

Rhode Island basketball’s bench and defense carried them to a much needed victory over William & Mary.

In their last game before Atlantic 10 Conference play, the Rhode Island Rams were able to avoid loss number five at the Ryan Center on Thursday night.

Related Story: E.C. Matthews directs Rhody to critical win over Bearcats

The Rams received 24 points from their bench and E.C. Matthews nearly recorded a double-double (23 points and nine rebounds), as the Rams defeated the William & Mary Tribe, 73-62, in a hard fought battle.

With their stellar defense and Matthews’ scoring punch, the Rams looked like they were going to pull away from the Tribe in the middle of the first half. However, William & Mary was able cut the lead down to just 13 at the break.

The Tribe’s leading scorer Omar Prewitt (12 points) scored just two points in the second frame, but William & Mary made a charge thanks to Daniel Dixon’s sharp shooting and sloppy offensive sets by the Rams. The Tribe actually cut the lead down to three points with 5:34 remaining.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Hurley said regarding his team’s offensive lulls in the second half. “They made an adjustment and forced us out to the three point line. They did a good job in the second half of taking away the free throw line, taking away the high post in the zone, where we were having a lot of success.”

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However, the difference in the game was William & Mary’s mistakes down the stretch. The Tribe recorded a couple of careless turnovers and gave up critical offensive rebounds to Cyril Langevine (17 total boards) and Stanford Robinson. In total, the Tribe turned the ball over 16 times to Rhode Island’s seven, and gave URI 21 points off of those turnovers.

In addition to Rhody’s ball security and solid defense down the stretch, their bench saved the day. With Hassan Martin still out with two tore quad muscles and Christion Thompson nursing a patella injury, Robinson provided some shot making against the Tribe’s zone defense and freshman guard Jeff Dowtin had the best game of his college career (nine points on 4-of-6 shooting).

“We said a couple games ago if the injuries to two key guys, obviously Hass (Martin) and Christion, didn’t bury us in a tough non-conference schedule that we would benefit greatly from it,” Hurley said postgame. “And you can just see how the bench has benefited greatly from those two guys going down. That’s just going to make us stronger going into conference play.”

The Rams had stagnant possessions against William & Mary’s zone defense and only shot 25 percent from beyond the arc. But they received timely shots from Matthews and enough offense off of their opponents’ turnovers.

Regardless of the margin of victory, this was a must-win for the now 8-4 Rams. They could ill afford to have a ‘bad loss’ on their resume heading into conference play.

Why? Because the Atlantic 10 isn’t as strong as it has been in year’s past.

Dayton isn’t the same old team without the services of Josh Cunningham down low. VCU has already lost to Illinois (they were crushed by 18) and a bad Georgia Tech team. George Washington lost numerous pieces, including Mike Lonergan, off their NIT championship team. St. Joe’s doesn’t have the services of DeAndre Bembry and Isaiah Miles anymore. And Richmond is already 6-5 despite having some nice veteran pieces.

In other words, there won’t be many chances to earn quality wins during conference play. Earning a bad loss versus William & Mary would’ve been a recipe for disaster and would’ve crippled a resume that is already lacking a true road win.

Rhode Island has aspirations of winning the Atlantic 10 and reaching their first NCAA Tournament since 1999. With a win over Cincinnati on a neutral floor and no bad losses, the Rams are on the proper track as we approach Christmas.

Next: Three takeaways from Louisville's win over Kentucky

After avoiding a scare, the Rams have to hope that they can get Martin and Thompson back quickly, that their offense can continue to improve and that their bench can keep up their potent punch. If that all works out, the Rams should be dancing for the first time this century.

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