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| Junior center Nate Watson puts up two of his 10 points for the Friars who, as if trying out for a role in "Groundhog Day," played competitive hoops early, then faded down the stretch and dropped a disheartening 75-61 decision to in-state arch-rival Rhode Island in Kingston. |
By
Bob Murph
KINGSTON—The Friars’ long and winding road to nowhere took them to Kingston on
Friday night where, upon their return from the Wooden Legacy tournament on the
West Coast, in which they went 1-2 and finished a disappointing eighth place,
they promptly returned to form and were beaten soundly by in-state arch-rival
URI, 75-61, before 8,052 fans at the Ryan Center on the Rhode Island campus.
The game was competitive during the early going.
Senior forward Kalif Young scored
the first two baskets of the game for the Friars. Vaughan, Ontario native
played well in the paint early in the game, and ended the contest with a near
double-double—nine points and nine boards. Then again, close only counts in
horseshoes, right?
And this year at least, PC basketball as well.
An Alpha Diallo
trey gave the Friars a three-point lead, 16-13, just past the midway point of
the first half. A few minutes later that three-point lead held when Emmitt Holt popped
in one from beyond the arc making it 21-18 Providence with 8:43
remaining in the half. Hope sprung
eternal in Friar Nation.
A layup by Fatts Russell gave the Rams their first
lead of the game, 22-21. The Friars responded with a three-point bomb by
sophomore guard David
Duke on their next possession to put PC back up by two
with 6:53 left in the first half. The Providence native ended the game with 12
points.
Then reality set
in.
For the next three minutes, Friar fans were forced
to endure a 12-0 run by the Rams that put URI up by 10, 34-24, with 3:24 left
in the period. The Friars called a timeout to regroup, and when play resume the
drought ended when freshman forward Greg
Gantt popped in a jumper off a nice feed from
A.J. Reeves cutting the Rams lead to eight—a margin that held for the remainder
of the first half as the Rams took a 38-29 lead into the locker room at
intermission.
For the half, the Friars shot a miserable 34.4 percent
from the field (11-for-32), including 4-for-11 from beyond the arc), while the
Rams were equally inept from the field, going 12-for-35 overall (34.3 percent)
including 2-for-10 from downtown.
In other words, this one was shaping up as yet another snooze-fest.
Early in the second half, URI’s Jeff Dowtin put in a
jumper in the paint to put the Rams up by 11, 44-33, 2:12 in. But the Friars responded
with an 8-0 run to cut the Rhode Island lead to just three, 44-41, at the 15:02
mark making the game interesting again.
After a jumper by Nate Watson (10 points, 6 boards)
cut the Rhody lead to two, 57-55, with 6:45 remaining in regulation, the Rams
went on a 5-0 run highlighted by a fast-break three-pointer Fatts Russell,
which put the Rams back up by seven, 62-55, with 5:55 left. And it just got
worse from there.
Yet another Russell bomb put the Rams up by 15 with
3:13 left, and the way the Friars have been playing gave them about as much
chance of coming back as Donald Trump has of gaining the support of Nancy
Pelosi in 2020. While the Friars didn’t fold up their tent—they cut tle lead
back to 12 after Diallo converted both ends of a one-on-one with less than
three minutes remaining in the contest, they were unable to dig out from the
immense hole they put themselves in.
Cyril Langevin and Fatts Russell combined for 41
points for Rhode Island. Diallo was the Friars’ leading scorer with 13 points.
He also grabbed four rebounds.
The Friars ended shooting a dismal 38.5 percent from
the floor (25-for-65), including just 5-for-17 from beyond the arc (29.4%) and an
abysmal 6-for-12 from the charity stripe. The Rams were 26-for-63 (41.3%) from the
field including 7-for-20 (35.0%) from downtown and 16-for-27 (59.3%) from the free-throw
line. With the loss, the Friars fell to 5-5 while the Rams improved to 6-3.
Next up for the Friars will be the Stony Brook
Seawolves at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Saturday. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. ET and the nation will be treated to a glimpse at this God-awful team on FS1. After all, Stony Brook used to be a “gimme” for the Friars.
This year, at least, there ain’t no such animal.
—with
staff reports
#gofriars @PCAthletics @pcfriarsmbb
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