URI Takes Care of Business, Rolls George Mason 71-56
GoLocalProv Sports Team
URI Takes Care of Business, Rolls George Mason 71-56
See the five takeaways slideshow below.
The Rams trailed 13-9 with 14 minutes left in the first half before going on a 21-5 run sparked by Hassan Martin scoring four of the first six points to help URI to a 30-18 lead. URI stayed in complete control the rest of the way, going up 41-27 at the half.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn the second half, George Mason got as close as nine points, 53-44, with 7:23 left to play in the game but URI used a quick 6-2 run to get the lead back to double digits. George Mason would not get as close as nine points the rest of the game. The Rams cruised to the 71-56 road win.
E.C. Matthews led the way with 18 points in 24 minutes off the bench after reaggravating his foot injury prior to the game. Jared Terrell added 16 points of his own in the win.
George Mason was led by Shevon Thompson who notched a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Patriots.
URI returns to action on Wednesday, February 25 when they host the Davidson Wildcats at the Ryan Center. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.
Click here for tickets.
For a further look at the Rams win, see the five takeaways slideshow below.
Five Takeaways From URI's 71-56 Win Over George Mason
Jared Terrell
With E.C. Matthews playing a bit banged up, Jared Terrell once again played another nice game for URI, leading the starters (Matthews came off the bench) in scoring with 16 points.
Terrell's 16 points came on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, including 2-of-5 from three-point land and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Terrell has now reached double figures in three straight games and six of the last eight for the Rams.
Jarvis Garrett
Jarvis Garrett had to take on a bigger role with Matthews coming off the bench banged up and he did just that.
Garrett netted 13 points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field but 8-of-8 from the free throw line in 29 minutes of play.
Garrett has now reached double figures in two straight games and three of the last four for URI.
Garrett also grabbed two rebounds and dished out three assists.
E.C. Matthews
Prior to the game, URI announced that E.C. Matthews had reaggravated the foot injury that sidelined him for a game earlier in the season. URI said that Matthews would be dressed but his playing time was uncertain.
As it turns out, Matthews played 24 minutes off the bench and netted a team leading 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field and and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
Matthews also grabbed three rebounds and had two steals in the game.
Turnovers/ points off
T.J. Buchanan led the Rams with four turnovers in the game however the Rams as a team only had 13.
Meanwhile, URI forced George Mason into 16 turnvoers and cashed in for 19 points off of those turnovers.
URI won the points off turnover battle 19-10.
Bracketology
In the latest version (February 19) of ESPN's Bracketology, Joe Lunardi has the URI Rams as the next four out. While this latest projection doesn't include the George Mason game, George Mason is a bad team this year so beating them, like URI did won't help them much anyway, it would only hurt them.
The UMass Minutemen are also in next four out category.
Lunardi has the A-10 only getting two bids and right now and VCU and Dayton are the two teams in the tournament.
The new national rankings and RPI rankings come out on Monday, February 23, so it will be interesting to see where the Rams stand and if there RPI has gone up at all after beating UMass.
URI next host's Davidson on Wednesday before going on a two game road trip to face La Salle and Dayton.
As of now, that Dayton game could be huge.
