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By ERIC RUEB Contributing writer BOSTON — The Rhode Island basketball team that showed up for the first 13 minutes, 38 seconds of Wednesday’s game against Northeastern looked good. The one that showed up for the next 6:22 looked awful. Then there were the Rams who showed up to start the second half, perhaps the best URI team that’s taken the court all season.
The Rams that finished? Well, they did all right — perhaps a good indicator of this team’s true ability — and it was good enough.
Rhode Island looked like a contender one minute, a pretender the next, but carried by some pretty good play from Keith Cothran and Kahiem Seawright, along with a big spark from Lamonte Ulmer in the second half, URI had enough to beat Northeastern, 85-72, improving its record to 6-2 heading to Saturday’s game against rival Providence College at the Dunkin Donuts Center (2 p.m.).
“We’re not looking at PC right now; we’re looking at practice (Thursday),” Cothran said after Wednesday’s game. “… We have to get better.”
If the Rams play the way they did for the majority of Wednesday’s game, they will be in good shape against the Friars. If URI plays like it did to end the first half, it’s not going to have a chance.
Inconsistent play is expected with inexperience, but straightening out the inconsistent play is something the Rams need to do quickly.
“We said we’re going to have some ups and downs,” URI coach Jim Baron said, “With this team and the experience we have.”
The highlight Wednesday was URI’s second half, started right from the opening possession, a one-and-one layup by Seawright in the post that got the ball rolling on a 16-0 run that turned a 42-39 halftime deficit into a double-digit lead.
After being up as much as 34-19 before having Northeastern fight back, the second-half start was exactly what Seawright and the Rams were looking for when it came out of the locker room.
“It was a mental lapse,” Seawright said. “I think we got kind of comfortable when it was 12, 13 points and we got comfortable honestly. In the locker room that was the main topic. We focused on we can’t do that, we can’t do that during the season.
“…We went in the locker room and got in straightened out in the second half.”
“It wasn’t really shock, it was kind of a punch to us and it hit us right in the chest,” said Northeastern’s Matt Janning, who scored 34 points last year at the Ryan Center but was limited to eight points Wednesday. “We had to come out after we had played great start to finish in the first half and we wanted to come out and hit them … You give them easy turnovers and easy shots, they’re a team that can go on the 16-0 run that they did.”
URI’s defended Janning well, and using a press that has had minimal success, opening up the 34-19 lead in the first half and maintained the lead after its 16-point burst to start the second.
After seven games of the press not having a tremendous amount of success, having it work against Northeastern when it was needed was a welcomed sign. The Huskies committed 10 turnovers, most created by Cothran, who continues to pile up big games for URI this season.
Cothran was aggressive on the defensive end, finishing with six steals – “I ain’t surprised,” Seawright said when he heard Cothran’s total. “His nickname’s Klepto” —— but it wasn’t just his defense. Cothran was a catalyst for the Rams’ offense.
With the Huskies’ defense focused on stopping Jimmy Baron — who finished with 13 points, six below his average —which let Cothran score in a variety of ways; from slashes to the bucket to open jumpers. He finished with 17 points.
“That was our game plan, not to over-help on Jimmy Baron because he’s got the capabilities of making them whether someone’s on him or not,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “When you put a man-and-a-half on him, you create opportunities for someone else and that’s when they become really difficult to beat.”
“I’m comfortable playing my role,” Cothran said. “I just want to do everything I can to help the team go. I have to be aggressive on both ends of the floor.”
Seawright had a quite a game, playing strong in the post against the Huskies’ big men — Nkem Ojoughbog, Eugene Spates and Manny Adako.
The URI senior wasn’t the tallest, strongest or quickest of the group, but he managed to control the game down low en route to 19 points — one off his career high — and seven rebounds.
“We really made a conscious effort to get the ball inside and play through him,” coach Baron said. “I thought he did a good job with that.”
Ulmer made a big impact for the first time all season. Coming off the bench, the junior played an effective 20 minutes, grabbing seven boards and scoring nine points, six in a stretch that helped turn away a temporary Northeast comeback at 58-48 into a dominating 69-52 lead.
He did it in typical Ulmer fashion — a high-powered two-handed dunk gave URI a 60-48 lead; a putback dunk on a Will Martell miss put the Rams up 67-52; and finished the binge with an ally-oop layup that gave URI a 69-52 lead with 8:12 left.
“We need Lamonte. It’s no secret he’s our high-flyer, our energy guy,” Seawright said. “Sometimes it takes a little bit to get it flowing. The season’s still early, not everyone clicks. We have along season … and he’ll be all right.”
Saturday is Providence College, a big game for the Rams because of the rivalry, but also because it will give them a chance for another win against a power conference team. URI’s out-of-conference schedule is as difficult as it’s been in a while and this might be one of the more important games the Rams have played against the Friars in quite some time.
Wednesday’s win was an indicator of what needs to happen it the Rams want to win.
“It’s special for the whole Rhode Island community, but like Cothran said, we’re focused on practice,” Seawright said. “It’s back to the drawing board (Thursday) and work on fixing those mistakes.”
“I think this PC team has the most talent of any Providence team I’ve faced since I’ve been here,” coach Baron said. “I mean that. I know they’re putting it together but … they are very talented.
“…We know it’s going to be a battle, especially playing on the road.” |
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