NEW: RIC Rebounds with Win over UMass Dartmouth

NEW: RIC Rebounds with Win over UMass Dartmouth

A Mike Akinrola free throw with two seconds left lifted Rhode Island College past their Little East Conference Rivals UMass Dartmouth 61-57 Tuesday night at the Murray Center.

“My first thought was I had to make it,” Akinrola, who scored a game-high 19 points, said.

The Anchormen (13-2, 4-2 LEC), who fell out of the top 25 this week following a Saturday loss at Keene State, jumped out to an early 9-2 lead 3:30 into the game. But for the remaining 16:30 UMass played a much faster and physical game than the Anchormen outscoring RIC 21-11 to take a 23-20 lead into the half.

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Being down at half for the second game in a row, the Anchormen started the second half with a 10-2 run to take the lead with 16:35 remaining on the clock. The Corsairs didn’t give up easily as with a strong presence down low with Senior Center Lance Greene (17) and Freshman Center Alex Rodrigues (16 Rebs). UMass took a one point lead with three minutes to play, but RIC’s Avery King hit a 3 pointer with 2:34 to play and the Anchormen never looked back with a 61-57 victory.

Even with the victory, RIC head coach Bob Walsh was not happy with his team’s performance.

“We got away with one tonight, and I am really disappointed with our seniors,” Walsh said. “Mentally we’ve got to get a lot tough and it starts with Mason and Mike.”

In addition to getting the victory, Coach Walsh said he was happy the team had won a close game.

“We’ve been a victim of our own success, the tight games we have lost and most of our wins we have been killing them,” added Walsh.

Anchormen Notes: Akinrola led all scorers with 19 points while grabbing 7 rebounds. Junior Co-Captain Tahrike Carter added 10 points and 4 assists. The Anchormen return to action on January 21 at 3 p.m. against Little East Conference opponent Plymouth State. The game is at home and can be heard on www.ricradio.org.

 

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