URI Edges Men's Basketball, 74-68

Wednesday, November 24

Kingston, R.I.

7:00

Drexel University

Rhode Island

11/24/2010 9:19:38 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Kingston, R.I. – Drexel's two-game winning streak to start the 2010-11 season came to an end with a 74-68 loss to Rhode Island at the Thomas Ryan Center in Kingston. Gerald Colds scored a season-high 17 points and Samme Givens had his second double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but a late Drexel rally came up short.

URI led by 13 points with 6:41 left to play but chipped away and got the lead down to five points with 1:08 remaining. The Rams (4-2) made four free throws in the closing minute and the Dragons missed a pair as they came up on the short end of the scoreboard. Drexel had its chances, but didn't convert its chances from the free-throw line. The Dragons missed 12 free throws in the second half and shot just 46 percent from the line in the game

With Drexel down by just a point early in the second half, Frantz Massenat was fouled but missed a pair of free throws. The Dragons got the rebound but failed to score, which proved to be costly as URI scored the next seven points to open up a 49-41 lead with 13:35 remaining. A few minutes later, with Drexel down seven, it appeared the lead would be cut to five, but Chris Fouch's driving lay-up was negated when he was called for a charge. URI answered with another run to take a commanding 57-46 and didn't give up the lead the rest of the way.

The teams played a tightly-contested first half as neither team could get more than a four-point advantage in the half. The Rams scored the final seven points of the half to take a 36-33 lead. Delroy James had five points during the run for URI and finished with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting in the first 20 minutes. Derrick Thomas led the Dragons with eight points.

Dartaye Ruffin continued to play well for Coach Flint. The freshman scored a career-high 14 points and chipped in with seven rebounds.

URI, which shot 50 percent in the game, was led by James. The senior from Brooklyn scored 33 points and knocked down three three-pointers. Marquis Jones (11) and Will Martell (10) also finished in double figures scoring.

The Dragons have a brief break for Thanksgiving before getting back to practice on Friday. Drexel has its home opener on Sunday against Binghamton. Tip-off at the Daskalakis Athletic Center is at 2 p.m.