URI coach Archie Miller speaks after Rams beat PC in rivalry game.
The Rhode Island Rams came back from a halftime deficit to beat the Providence Friars in the annual in-state rivalry basketball game on Saturday at URI.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The best start for the University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team in more than 70 years now includes a satisfying rivalry win.
The Rams delivered the goods down the stretch to stop Providence, a program looking to extend its recent dominance in this series.
Sebastian Thomas capped his huge second half with a steal and a following 3-pointer. Both came inside the final minute and were critical in a 69-63 triumph, one played in front of a sold-out Ryan Center.
Thomas poked the ball away from Jayden Pierre in the lane and had it back in his hands as the shot clock ran down at the other end. He stepped back on the right wing and drilled a 3-pointer over Bryce Hopkins, making it a 67-61 game with 23.8 seconds left. That brought the loudest roar of the afternoon from the 7,685 fans on hand, one they’ve waited to turn loose since URI’s last win in this series in December 2019.
“Right now my confidence is at an all-time high,” Thomas said. “And I’m making shots like that.”
David Green’s pair of buckets inside helped push the Rams to the finish. It was a 60-59 lead when he dropped a hook in the lane and another from the right post. URI dodged what would have been the tying 3-pointer by Corey Floyd Jr. and iced the game when Jamarques Lawrence hit a pair of free throws with 9.5 seconds left.
“When you have to run things in the second half and the pressure is on, you better be able to handle the ball,” URI coach Archie Miller said. “I think Sebastian – and, at times, Jamarques – can do that.”
The Friars were locked up on the perimeter over the final 20 minutes, closing 1-for-10 from 3-point range and missing some key free throws. The Rams used a 6-0 run to take the lead for good on a Thomas layup with 5:29 left. Bensley Joseph rimmed out the front end of a 1-and-1, Green blocked a paint shot attempt by Hopkins and Jaden House’s floater forced Providence to call timeout in a 60-55 game with 4:25 left.
“We’re still learning the value of possessions,” Providence coach Kim English said. “To be constantly in it – to be dialed in.”
The Friars stayed in front from early in the first half until late in the second. URI finally solved some sagging paint defense by using David Fuchs off the bench, and his hard jam off a lob from Thomas with 13:09 left was an example of the adjustment the Rams made at halftime. They managed just 12 points in the opening 20 minutes but collected 22 after the break, part of their 51.7% shooting from the field.
“We had to get downhill,” Thomas said. “In the first half I went (0-4) – I was forcing my floaters a little bit. In the second half I ended up hitting the roller a lot.”
Providence (6-4) controlled the tempo masterfully in the opening half, shutting URI out on the fast break and limiting the Rams to 34.4% shooting. House racked up 14 points and was 6-for-8 from the field – his eight teammates who saw action could only match that total and shot 5-for-24. The Friars built a double-digit lead on three different occasions and took a 35-28 margin into the locker room.
“They don’t give you a lot of assists,” Miller said. “They don’t give you a lot of threes. They’re very good defensively in terms of eliminating the baskets you usually get.”
Providence coach Kim English speaks after his Friars lose to URI
Providence loses to Rhode Island in the annual rivalry men’s basketball game, held Saturday at the Ryan Center in Kingston.
URI (9-0) was coming off an 84-78 grinder against Yale, a team that won a game in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Providence snapped its three-game losing streak with an 83-64 win over BYU in the Big East-Big 12 Battle as Hopkins returned 11 months after a major left knee injury. The Rams were able to extend their form here while the Friars missed out on a nonconference chance to build a postseason resumé.
“We’ve got to flush this,” English said. “We’ve got to get better. Some of the warts from the BYU win kind of showed today.”
URI has a trip to Brown on deck after winning for just the third time in this series since December 2009. The Rams have shrugged off two disappointing seasons under Miller and look confident through the opening month of the season. The Bears figure to present another stiff test on the East Side.
“In the summer I knew our group was different,” House said. “I just knew. For us to be able to show everybody else, it feels good.”
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On X: @BillKoch25
