URI Suffers Ugly Loss at Duquesne in A-10 Opener

URI Suffers Ugly Loss at Duquesne in A-10 Opener

The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team suffered an ugly loss in its Atlantic 10 opener at Duquesne 67-55 Tuesday afternoon.

After starting the season 9-0, the Rams are now 2-2 in its last four games

The Rams (11-2, 0-1 A-10) scored a season-low 55 points while shooting just 37.0 percent from the field.

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Duquesne (6-8, 1-0 A-10) had four players in double figures as its balanced attack won out. Jahsean Corbett led Duquesne with 13 points, while David Dixon and Tre Dinkins III had 11 apiece. Cameron Crawford added 10.

URI point guard Sebastian Thomas was the lone Rhode Island player to score in double figures, as he finished with 20 points.

The Dukes used a 41-30 edge on the glass to control the tempo. Duquesne turned 13 offensive rebounds into a 16-3 advantage in second-chance points.

Duquesne initially took control with a 14-0 run midway through the first half to build a 22-11 lead following an Eli Wilborn layup. The lead got to as many as 13 for the Dukes before Rhode Island started to chip away late. Trailing 30-17, the Rams closed the half with a modest 9-4 run. Drissa Traore scored five points in the spurt, and a David Fuchs layup got Rhody within 34-26 by the half.

 

Rhode Island showed early life to open the second half as Javonte Brown had a dunk, and Thomas hit a 3-pointer to make it a 34-31 contest. Duquesne responded with a 7-0 run to get back to a double-digit lead. From there, the Rams never got closer than eight points.

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

- Thomas and Jamarques Lawrence each had four assists.
- Forward Drisssa Traore had five points and three rebounds.
- Forward David Fuchs had five points and seven rebounds.
- The Rams shot 37.0% overall, 28.6% (4-of-14) from behind the 3-point line, and 65.4% (17-of-26) at the free throw line.
- The 26 points in the opening 20 minutes was Rhode Island's lowest first-half output of the season.
- The 29 points in the second half were a season-low for the final 20 minutes.
- Duquesne's bench scored 23 points.

NEXT:

Rhode Island returns to the Ryan Center on Saturday, Jan. 4, when it hosts George Mason at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on the USA Network.