Thomas, Rams rally again in overtime win at Richmond

Photo courtesy of Richmond Athletics

Slow starts, gritty comebacks and Sebastian Thomas – the storyline of the season was once again on show on Saturday night, and it was a mixed bag for a shorthanded Rhode Island men’s basketball team. 

A trip to Richmond produced one of the team’s worst offensive performances of the season, as well as their first true road victory. After the Rams fell behind by as much as 14, yet another late comeback leveled Rhode Island’s conference record at 2-2 after the Rams left the Robins Center with a 67-64 win.

“We didn’t have any business winning the game, let alone being in the game, with how we played and performed on the road in terms of the offensive end in the first half,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “I was really encouraged with our group at halftime…we did not let anything bother us.”

Heading into Atlantic 10 play, Rhode Island led the conference and ranked 19th nationally with 87.5 points per game. Now, through four conference games, the Rams are averaging just under 63 points. Luckily for the visitors, Richmond were missing top scorer DeLonnie Hunt due to a fractured foot, and matched URI’s evident offensive struggles. That allowed the Rams to weather an early storm and keep themselves in the game. 

The first-half scoring struggles continued to haunt the Rams on Saturday night, as Miller’s men went 0-6 to start the game and turned the ball over twice in that time. The Rams subsequently dug themselves into an early 8-0 hole, and it took them nearly five minutes to find the basket for the first time when Thomas eventually sank a jumper in the paint. 

It didn't get much better as the half went on. Neither team was particularly efficient on offense, but a woeful 2-15 mark from the field to go with six turnovers for URI through the opening 12 minutes put the Rams behind 16-4 heading into the under-eight media timeout.

The Rams eventually picked up the pace in the back end of the first half, entering the break with a three from sophomore guard Cam Estevez – the Rams’ first of the game – that capped off a 9-2 run to bring themselves back within single-digits. After 20 minutes, the Spiders led 25-18.

Fortunately for URI, Richmond also struggled to start the second half, not scoring until the 17-minute mark when Richmond’s Mikkel Tynne and senior guard Jaden House exchanged a pair of triples to make it a four-point game, 28-24. Minutes later, House drove to the basket, sinking a contested layup to give the Rams their first lead of the game, 29-28 with 14:33 on the clock. 

House finished the game with 18 points, matching his highest output since the Rams’ victory over Providence on Dec. 7 and his second-highest tally of the season.

Although Richmond re-took the lead soon after and remained in charge for the better part of the rest of the game, the Rams kept it close. They exchanged 11 more leads with the Spiders as the game remained within single digits, eventually heading to overtime when nothing could separate a 55-55 deadlock after 40 minutes.

“We’ve been here before this season with this team [at halftime],” Miller said. “In the second half, we started to finally get a little bit more confidence offensively, and defensively [we were] maybe as consistent as we’ve been all game.”

With 23 seconds left in overtime, the Rams found themselves down by one, until Thomas spun into the paint and finished a quick move with a floater to put the Rams in front by one, 65-64. After the Spiders missed a three down the other way and were forced to foul, Thomas sank the game from the line as the Rams escaped Richmond with a 67-64 win. Nine of Thomas’ team-high 23 points came in the last five minutes.

Although it wasn’t pretty, the Rams are used to this brand of basketball at this point. Without David Green’s 15 points per game and David Fuchs’ defensive presence off the bench, Archie Miller will at least be pleased that his team can get the win in games like this, even with as poor of a start as they had. 

Up next, Rhode Island’s road swing will continue with a nationally-televised trip to a struggling Loyola Chicago team, who are losers of six of its last eight games, and was most recently handed a 93-57 blow at the hands of St. Joe’s. Tip-off from the windy city is set for 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.