2011 Rhode Island Rams Basketball: Rhode Island vs Charlotte

Once again Rhode Island got off to a slow start, but once again they were able to make the plays late in order to survive. Jamal Wilson's put-back of an Akeem Richmond miss was his lone field goal, but enough to give the Rams a 71-70 overtime win over Charlotte at the Ryan Center. Richmond led the Rams (16-9, 7-4) with a game-high 20 points and Nikola Malesevic added 19 as the Rams won their second straight. Chris Braswell scored 17 off the bench (and grabbed 10 rebounds) to lead four 49ers in double figures, but it wasn't enough to win a game they led by as many as 18 points early in the second half. Charlotte's issue once again was turnovers, and their 18 miscues resulted in 21 Rhode Island points.

Charlotte went into the locker room at halftime with a 41-32 lead, a product of 11 points off of eight URI turnovers and 50% shooting from the field. Derrio Green and Jamar Briscoe combined to score 17 of the 49ers' 41 points while Rhode Island shot just 32% for the half, making three of seventeen from beyond the arc. Delroy James scored seven in the first half but was quiet offensively for the remainder of the game, scoring just one point in the second half and overtime on an afternoon that featured fans receiving his bobble head. A Green three pointer with 1:21 left in the half extended Charlotte's lead to 30-15, but a quick 8-2 spurt by URI cut the deficit to nine at the break.

Green would come out quickly to kill whatever momentum Jim Baron's team would have hoped to carry over, knocking down a three-pointer 30 seconds into the half to push the lead back to 12. That would touch off a quick 8-0 spurt, with a KJ Sherrill steal and layup making the score 40-23 with 18:28 remaining. But from that point onward Green would score just two more points and the Rams would mount a deliberate charge to cut the Charlotte lead down to just three with 12:53 remaining on a Richmond three. Charlotte would lead by no more than five points the rest of the game, with an Orion Outerbridge dunk tying the score at 48 with 9:42 to go. A second Outerbridge dunk (and foul) would give URI their first lead since 2-0, but they led by no more than four the remainder of regulation. Two free throws apiece from Sherrill and Braswell in the final 15 seconds sent the game into overtime.

A pair of Green free throws with 34 seconds left in the extra session gave Charlotte a 70-67 lead but a Marquis Jones put-back of his own miss would cut the lead to one with 12 seconds to go. Charlotte would commit their 18th and final turnover five seconds later, setting the stage for Wilson's heroics. A Jones miss would be knocked out of bounds to give the Rams one final shot at the win, which was all they needed. URI is off for a week before hosting UMass and Charlotte next hosts Dayton on Wednesday.

Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Fans

Rhode Island Beats Charlotte at Buzzer