Spring Break
URI men's basketball plays strong defensive game against Saint Louis
Chris Smith
Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: Sports
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Sports Staff Reporter
The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team improved to 18-8 (7-4 A-10) at the Ryan Center Saturday afternoon, defeating Saint Louis University, 69-61.
The Rams led the entire way, playing a strong defensive game as they forced the Billikens to turn the ball over 20 times. Rhody played a solid team game with 18 assists and took care of the basketball, turning it over just eight times.
"We knew coming in it was going to be a hard fought game," coach Jim Baron said. "They beat us last year and we knew how physical it was going to be. I thought we made a couple of adjustments with our pressure. We turned them over. We took the ball aggressively to the bucket. It was just a good win for us."
Junior Lamonte Ulmer scored a game-high 18 points shooting 8-of-9 from the floor. The Rams are 3-0 when Ulmer has scored 15 or more points.
"I took it upon myself to make myself better, going to the gym and taking more shots than I usually do," Ulmer said.
Senior Kahiem Seawright collected his second double-double of the season, scoring 12 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Jimmy Baron shot 4-of-9, adding 11 points. Point guards Marquis Jones and Stevie Mejia each dished out five assists. Mejia, who split equal time with Jones, scored six points, hitting both of his three point attempts. He credited his success to the hard work he puts in with Jones in practice.
"We just battle every day in practice," Mejia said. "We make each other better in practice. We pressure each other every day in practice. So when it comes to the games, we're used to the pressure. He's a great defender and just a good friend."
The Rams opened the game with an 8-0 run capped off by Seawright's jumper. Rhody extended its lead to as large as eight and led 32-25 heading into the half. Ulmer led all scorers with 12 points at the break.
Rhody continued to extend its lead in the second half, opening up with a 39-27 lead after Baron hit a three from the corner. This was his only three pointer of the game.
The Rams opened their largest lead of the game at 16 after Baron hit a jumper making it 53-37 with 7:33 to go in the game.
The Billikens would cut the lead to eight points, but that was as close as they would get, as the Rams secured the 69-61 victory.
With the win the Rams improve to 7-4 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. They sit at fifth in the conference standings heading into Wednesday night's game at the University of Massachusetts.
"I'm not worried about where we should be," coach Baron said. "We've got to focus on continuing to work to get better and do what we need to do. In my opinion, it's wide open and now we got UMASS, who got us twice this year and they're a good team."
