This past week the University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team finished 3-1 in the Cancun Challenge, in which two games were played at the Ryan Center, and two games were played in Mexico.
The Rams defeated Cleveland State, Texas Christian University, and Rider University. Their lone loss came to the hands of the no. 2 University of Maryland.
Cleveland State
Against Cleveland State, the Rams were able to overwhelm the Vikings with their tenacity on defense, resulting in the Vikings shooting just 27.3 percent from the field as a team. In the game the Rams set their season-high with 15 assists, and they also had four of the five members of the starting five reach double figures (the lone exception being Four McGlynn with six points). In a game that was never really close from the start, the Rams built a 20-point halftime lead, en route to a 73-45 victory.
TCU
In their second matchup against TCU the game was much closer, with the Horned Frogs taking a two-point lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the second half. In total the game featured seven ties and five lead changes. In addition, each team grabbed 31 rebounds, while TCU had 12 turnovers, and Rhody had 11. The best performance in the 66-60 win for the Rams was Jared Terrell, who posted a double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and two steals.
Maryland
The third game was their toughest and it showed in the stat sheet as Maryland dominated in all facets of the game, building a 16 point halftime lead and ultimately winning 86-63. The Rams’ defense had no answer for the Terps with Maryland shooting 60 percent from the field, and getting 20 fast break points to just six for URI. Kuran Iverson and Earl Watson were the leading scorers with 19 points and 17 points respectively, while Jared Terrell was held scoreless and Hassan Martin had just five points and also fouled out.
Rider (Colin’s Story) – not this
The final game was perhaps the most complete performance as the offense really showed up. The Rams shot 13-of-28 from 3-point land, turned the ball over just four times, and outrebounded Rider by nine. Despite this being a team performance and victory, the star performance belonged to Four McGlynn, who started five of five from beyond the arc, and finished with 27 points to go along with five rebounds. McGlynn also went 9-of-11 from the free throw line, and led the team to the lopsided 82-57 win and a solid rebound performance after a tough Maryland game.
