5 Takeaways From URI's 73-45 Win Over Cleveland State
Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team
5 Takeaways From URI's 73-45 Win Over Cleveland State
See the Five Takeaways Slideshow Below
The story of the game is URI's defense which was in lock down mode right from the beginning of the game. The Rams limited Cleveland State to just 13 points in the first 15 minutes of the game while Rhode Island took a 27-13 lead with five minutes to play.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTCleveland State cut their deficit to 11 points, 27-16, with 4:54 left in the first half but that is as close as they would get the rest of the game.
The Rams led 39-19 at half time and 44-19 in the first two minutes of the second half.
URI cruised to the 73-45 win.
The Leaders
Hassan Martin led URI with 16 points in the game on 6 of 8 shooting from the field. Meanwhile, Kuran Iverson had his best game as a Ram pouring in 15 while Jared Terrell added 14.
Next Up
The Rams return to action on Tuesday, November 24th when they travel to Mexico to play TCU in the Cancun Challenge. Tip off is set for 6 p.m. and will be shown on CBS Sports Network.
5 Takeaways From URI's 73-45 Win Over Cleveland State
Bench Points
One issue that URI is going to have to deal with throughout the season is bench scoring.
Earl Watson led the Rams with six points off the bench for a bench total of nine points while in the last game, URI had onliy four points off the bench, all from Watson.
URI will be hoping guys like Nicola Akele and Christion Thompson can get it going, if not, the starters are going to have to do some heavy lifting.
Jared Terrell
Jared Terrell reached double-figures for the third straight game this season, netting 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting from the field.
Terrell also grabbed five rebounds, dished out two assists and had three steals for the Rams.
URI as a team had `5 assists compared to Cleveland State's 4.
Kuran Iverson
Kuran Iverson had his best game as a Ram, netting 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the field nd 5 of 8 from the free throw line.
Iverson also pulled down 8 rebounds, dished out two assists and had two steals.
With Matthews out, URI is going to need as much scoring as possible and Iverson is one player that could help fill that void.
Points in the Paint
Hassan Martin led the Rams with 16 points in the game coming on 6 of 8 shooting from the field and was a big part of why URI dominated in points in the paint.
URI won the battle 24-14 which helped lead to the Rams shooting 27 % from the field.
Defense
The lock down defense that we saw at times throughout last season returned in this game.
URI held Cleveland State to just 27 % shooting from the field and forced 19 turnovers, nine of which came on steals.
The Rams finished defensive possessions by winning the battle of the boards 37-26, 30 of those rebounds coming on the defensiven end.
Amazingly, Hassan Martin only had one rebound in the game.
