Thomas dagger seals best non-conference finish since 2009 for men's basketball

Photo courtesy of gorhody.com

For the first time since 2009, Rhode Island men’s basketball has concluded non-conference play with just one loss. 

Its 11-1 record was sealed on Saturday night at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts, thanks once again to the late-game heroics from senior guard Sebastian Thomas. In a back-and-forth, streaky game, his late triple with just 20.8 seconds on the clock was enough to pull Rhody in front of old Atlantic 10 rival Temple, 85-79. 

Thomas, who was making a return from a one-game injury absence after tweaking his ankle in Rhody’s double-overtime loss to Brown on Dec. 10, was named MVP of the Hall of Fame Classic after recording his second double-double of the season, recording 20 points and 10 assists. 

“I wasn't 100% going into the game, but I think it was kind of just a mindset thing,”

Thomas said. “[The] team needed me, the team wanted me to play, and I just went in and I delivered.”’

Redshirt senior center Javonte Brown also had his best outing of the season, matching his career-best 21 points while grabbing a season-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double in Keaney Blue.

The pair led a dominant second-half effort that saw the Rams storm out of the gates in the first five minutes, extending their lead to as much as 16 after the first half saw the two schools exchange the lead nine times. Temple did not go down easily, however, digging itself out of the hole and fighting all the way back to eventually re-take the lead at 72-71 with 5:36 to go when senior guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. connected on a mid-range jumper.

“Just some real sloppiness from us on both ends allowed the game to sort of get back into working manageable distance from them,” URI Head Coach Miller said. “ I thought defensively [out of the timeout], more important than anything, we got about three or four really key stops. It could have maybe broken away from us, but we were able to get some key stops in that last four or five minutes.”

The Owls’ surge was spearheaded by senior forward Steve Settle’s 18-point performance. He went 4-4 from distance in the first half to give the Owls a one-point lead going into the break, and 6-10 on the night as Temple made a game of it down the stretch.

With the game knotted at 79 with less than 30 seconds left, Thomas’ three was enough to pull URI ahead for the final time, and his resulting free-throw after a Temple shooting foul made it a four-point play and a two-possession game. With Temple forced to play the foul game, Thomas went 2-2 from the line in the final 20 seconds – where URI went 19-22 on the night – to ice the game.

While it wasn’t always pretty, the Rams proved they have what it takes to get the job done in crunch time during the non-conference slate. It’s the first time we’ve seen that in three years under head coach Archie Miller. Now, the real test begins – conference play. The Rams will begin their A-10 slate on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the 14th-placed Duquesne Dukes on ESPN+.

The Rams are still looking for a true road win this season, and a good opportunity awaits them as they look to carry their non-conference momentum into one of the most important stretches of the year.