Colonials stop Rams’ momentum

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Thursday, March 03, 2011

GoLocalProv Sports Team

The maddening lack of consistency in Kingston is enough to drive Jim Baron insane.

Just when it looked as if the Rams had shaken their usual late-season woes, the team crashed hard Wednesday in an ugly, 66-55 loss to George Washington at the Ryan Center.

Wednesday’s loss snapped Rhode Island’s two-game winning streak and dropped them into a fifth-place tie with the Colonials in the Atlantic 10 standings. George Washington’s victory gives it the edge in the event of a tie-breaker, which means the Rams will likely miss out on a chance to grab a top-four seed – and the subsequent first-round bye – in the A-10 Tournament and might have to settle for a sixth-place finish barring the result of Saturday’s season finale.

Rhode Island entered Wednesday tied with Duquesne for fourth place in the conference, but the Dukes crushed Saint Bonaventure to improve to 10-5 in the A-10 while the Rams dropped to 9-6 in conference play and 18-11 overall. George Washington is also 9-6 in the A-10 and 16-13 overall.

The Rams never got into a rhythm Wednesday. They shot 45 percent from the field, but the Colonials led at the half and throughout most of the game. Delroy James had a quiet night, scoring 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and was plagued with foul trouble throughout the game. Jamal Wilson scored a game-high 13 points and Marquis Jones added 12.

Tony Taylor led the surge for George Washington with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and also had four steals and five assists. Rhode Island will close out the regular season Saturday at Saint Bonaventure at 2 p.m. The A-10 Tournament begins March 11 in Atlantic City.