Rams Hang Tough, Fall to #4 Pitt

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

The Pitt Panthers began their 9th season of play in the beautiful Peterson Events Center last night. In the previous 8 seasons, Pitt went 75-1 against non-conference foes in that building and they almost lost their second non-conference game there last night. Almost.

The Rhody Rams put up a valiant effort against the 4th ranked Panthers in the 2K Coaches vs. Cancer Classic but ended up falling short 83-75.

Many would say that the Rams ability to hang tough with Pitt was a surprise given that Rhody was without 4 key players due to injury and academic reasons. But for those who follow the program, it comes as no surprise that Jim Baron had his team ready. Baron’s teams traditionally play well out of the gates and often bring their best efforts against the toughest opponents.

URI jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead on a pair of 3’s by Delroy James and Akeem Richmond. Rhody shot well all night from beyond the arc finishing 14-31 as a team at 45%. But it was their inability to limit the Panthers easy baskets which cost them a chance at a major early season upset.

It was a back and forth first half between the two teams until Rhode Island opened up an 8-point advantage on a Will Martell basket with 1:30 to go before the break. But Pitt would score the final 9 points of the half taking a 37-36 lead into the intermission.

The second half was also closely contested until about the 5 minute mark when Pitt opened up an 8-point advantage on a Lamar Patterson 3-point play.

But the Rams didn’t quit as they cut the deficit to two on a Delroy James trifecta with 1:41 to go making it 76-74 Pittsburgh.

After Brad Wanamaker (24 pts, 8 assists) hit one of two free throws to put the Panthers up 77-74, Akeem Richmond made a bad choice by launching a “3” from about 26 feet away from the basket. The Panthers capitalized on that miss by converting two more Wanamaker free throws to go up 5 with :34 seconds left.

Wanamaker led all scorers with his 24 points. Backcourt mate Ashton Gibbs was next with 22.

The Rams were led by James’ 20 points and 5 rebounds. Akeem Richmond had 16 and Nikola Malesevic had 13 off the bench. They were the only three Rhode Island players in double figures.

The Panthers shot just 3-16 from “3” at 19%. But Pittsburgh (45%) shot better from the field than Rhody (41%) thanks to many easy lay-ups. Pitt also won the battle of the boards outrebounding URI 40-29.

Rhody’s next game will be one week from tonight when they play their home-opener at the Ryan Center against intra-state rival Brown.