In a game delayed by, of all things, rain, No. 17 Temple sprinted out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back in defeating the Rhode Island Rams, 57-44, in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament. The loss puts a damper on the Rams' hopes of making the NCAA tournament. The final score was not indicative of how unevenly matched these two teams were. This was the third time in three attempts this season that the Owls have beaten the Rams.
Sophomore guard Juan Fernandez scored the first seven points for the Owls during that 9-0 run to start the game. With Temple leading 11-2, the game was delayed for seven minutes. Heavy rain outside Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, caused a leak directly above the court. Unfortunately for the Rams, play would resume.
The Rams looked like they had turned a corner with their enthusiastic, efficient play in a 63-47 win against Saint Louis on Friday. But twenty-four hours later, they looked like the same team that had lost to UMass (12-19) and St. Bonaventure (15-15) in the last two weeks. Those two losses could come back to haunt them as they wait for their name to be announced tomorrow night as invitees to the NCAA tournament.
On this day, the Rams were playing an experienced Temple team that is coming off back-to-back A-10 conference tournament titles. This was in stark opposition to the Saint Louis team the Rams beat yesterday, which fielded a team comprised entirely of freshmen and sophomores. The Owl defense was ranked 4th in the nation and it showed as the Rams would only score 17 points in the first half.
The Owls would lead 34-17 at halftime and the game would never be close. Senior Lamonte Ulmer was a virtual no-show as he would only shoot five times, making two, and finishing with only 7 points. The Rams did a nice job penetrating to the hoop, but missed numerous easy layups. Probably the biggest one came with Temple leading 15-7. Senior Keith Cothran, who would finish with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting, made a nice steal near half court, then missed a lightly contested fast break layup which would have cut the lead to six. Instead, Temple got the rebound and quickly responded with a 3-pointer, which opened the lead to eleven. Cothran would miss another layup a minute later.
But he was not alone, as Ben Eaves (6 points, 2-of-7 FGs), Ulmer, Akeem Richmond, Delroy James (9 points, 4-of-11 FGs) and others would all miss bunnies. Richmond, who sparked the Rams’ win yesterday with four 3-pointers in the first half, was held scoreless in this one on 0-for-5 shooting. Point guard Marquis Jones would only score two points on 1-of-6 shooting. The team as a whole would shoot only 27% for the game. That won’t win any games. This is a team that lives or dies by their 3-point success, and today they made only 5-of-18 (27.8%), which included a couple of air balls.
Now URI (23-8) can only sit and wait to see if their name gets announced tomorrow night. If they do make the NCAAs, they will be hard pressed to get past the first round. They are just too undersized, don’t play good enough defense, and won’t be nearly as athletic as the teams they would mostly like face. They also don’t have any proven go-to scorers they can rely on in their half court offense. In some ways, it might be better for URI to get by-passed for the NCAAs and instead go play in the NIT where they would have a chance to advance further. Either way, for a team projected to finish no higher than 8th in the A-10, this season has to be viewed as a success.
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