Rhode Island shot 68 percent in the second half to overcome a three-point, halftime deficit and defeat the Northeastern men's basketball team 85-72 Wednesday night at Matthews Arena.
Kahiem Seawright scored 19 points and blocked three shots to lead the Rams, and Keith Cothran added 17 points and six steals as the Rhody defense held Northeastern to 25 percent shooting (8-for-32) in the second half. Rhode Island finished the game overall with 63.5 percent shooting (33-for-52).
Sophomore Vinny Lima led the Huskies with 14 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting. He added five rebounds and two steals. Manny Adako scored 11 points and Nkem Ojougboh chipped in 10.
In the first half, Rhode Island jumped out to a quick 15-6 lead as the Rams made six of their first seven shots. Cothran picked up two steals on successive NU possessions and then drained a three at 15:17 to give URI the nine-point advantage.
Rhode Island's lead would grow to 15, 34-19, with 6:35 to play in the first half, but the Huskies went on a ferocious tear, ending the half on a 23-5 run. Lima scored seven of the 23 points during the run to get NU back in the game. Matt Janning tied it at 39-39 with a jumper at 1:36. After Jimmy Baron missed a three, Manny Adako put up a layup and drew a foul with 30 seconds left. He made the free throw and gave the Huskies a 42-39 lead going into the break.
However, the second half belonged to Rhode Island. Seawright immediately tied the game with a three-point play on URI's first possession. That started a 16-0 run that was capped by a Seawright jumper at 15:25 after he blocked Janning's shot at the other end.
Combined with poor shooting and a tough Rhode Island full court press, the Huskies were unable to cut the deficit to single digits. The Rams built a 19-point lead with 7:30 to play after Coth ran connected on a fast break layup that was started after Lamonte Ulmer blocked Ojougboh's shot.
Northeastern cut the URI lead to 11, 73-62, after Lima stole the ball from Marquis Jones and hit a layup at 5:54, but the Huskies missed their next four field goal attempts over the next five minutes of the game while Rhode Island held on.
Rhode Island improves to 6-2 on the season while Northeastern falls to 3-4. The Huskies will open CAA play on Saturday, Dec. 3, when they meet James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., at 11 a.m. The game will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and will air on tape delay on Comcast SportsNet New England at 4 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Rhode Island vs Northeastern
12/03/08 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena (Boston, MA)
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VISITORS: Rhode Island 6-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 JAMES, Delroy....... f 4-7 0-0 1-2 4 2 6 3 9 0 4 0 0 27
33 SEAWRIGHT, Kahiem... f 7-8 0-0 5-6 2 5 7 3 19 3 4 3 1 34
05 JONES, Marquis...... g 3-4 2-2 1-2 0 5 5 2 9 3 4 0 1 26
20 BARON, Jimmy........ g 4-6 1-3 4-5 0 3 3 4 13 2 3 0 0 30
22 COTHRAN, Keith...... g 7-11 1-2 2-2 0 4 4 4 17 1 0 0 6 33
01 MEJIA, Stevie....... 0-3 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 3 0 1 2 0 0 11
02 EAVES, Ben.......... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 0 0 7
12 OUTERBRIDGE, Orion.. 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
15 ULMER, Lamonte...... 4-7 0-0 1-1 3 4 7 3 9 1 2 2 0 20
32 MARTELL, Will....... 1-2 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 6
54 FRANCIS, Jason...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 5
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 33-52 5-10 14-20 10 29 39 25 85 11 21 5 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-27 59.3% 2nd Half: 17-25 68.0% Game: 63.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 1-1 100 % Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-3 100 % 2nd Half: 11-17 64.7% Game: 70.0% 2
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 3-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Spates, Eugene...... f 3-6 1-4 2-3 0 1 1 4 9 0 1 0 1 27
32 Adako, Manny........ f 4-11 0-0 3-3 2 3 5 1 11 0 2 2 0 19
54 Ojougboh, Nkem...... c 5-9 0-0 0-0 4 0 4 2 10 0 0 1 0 26
03 Allen, Chaisson..... g 1-7 0-1 4-4 0 3 3 0 6 4 0 0 1 29
23 Janning, Matt....... g 4-14 0-3 0-4 1 1 2 3 8 4 5 0 1 38
01 Etherly, Erik....... 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 3
11 Lima, Vinny......... 6-6 2-2 0-0 1 4 5 4 14 2 1 0 2 24
15 McDonald, Brian..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
20 Smith, Matt......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 1-5 1-2 2-2 0 0 0 0 5 3 1 0 1 18
31 Aragbaye, Allen..... 1-3 0-0 3-3 0 1 1 2 5 1 0 0 0 7
33 Felix, Ben.......... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 26-63 4-12 16-23 10 13 23 16 72 14 10 3 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-31 58.1% 2nd Half: 8-32 25.0% Game: 41.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 13-19 68.4% Game: 69.6% 5
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Officials: Ray Perone, Brent Hampton, Tony Dawkins
Technical fouls: Rhode Island-None. Northeastern-TEAM.
Attendance: 2183
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Rhode Island.................. 39 46 - 85
Northeastern.................. 42 30 - 72
Points in the paint-URI 46,NU 28. Points off turnovers-URI 10,NU 29.
2nd chance points-URI 15,NU 6. Fast break points-URI 8,NU 4.
Bench points-URI 18,NU 28. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-3 times.
Last FG-URI 2nd-00:25, NU 2nd-00:17.
Largest lead-URI by 19 2nd-07:45, NU by 3 1st-00:30.
