No. 16 Rhode Island snaps their winning streak at 16 to St. Bonaventure on the road
The No. 16 University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team’s winning streak of 16
games came to an end Friday night as they fell to the St. Bonaventure Bonnies 77-74 in a jam-packed and hostile Reilly Center.
Cyril Langevine would sink two clutch free throws for Rhode Island as they grabbed a 74-73 lead with 33 seconds left in the game. St. Bonaventure would march back down the court and LaDarien Griffin would be left as open as a Walmart on Black Friday, securing an easy pick-and-roll layup to put the Bonnies up by one with 22 seconds remaining. The Bonnies would hold on to that lead for the remainder of the game, securing a top five RPI and certain resume building win in the process.
St. Bonaventure’s Matt Mobley was the star of the show for the Bonnies, finishing with
26 points off of 5-11 shooting from beyond the arc while grabbing nine rebounds. The Atlantic 10’s second leading scorer, Jaylen Adams, finished with ten points while shooting six of six from the free-throw line and dishing out eight assists. Mobley and Adams, dubbed one of the best backcourt duos in the country, combined for 36 points and provided fits for the Rhode Island defense. Griffin, who was averaging 2.3 points in his last three games, scored a bench high 14 points while scoring ten of the Bonnies last 14. Three Bonnies, Mobley, Adams and Courtney Stockyard, played all 40 minutes.
Shooting-wise, the statistics pointed towards a Rhode Island victory. The Rams shot 45.5 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from beyond the arc, as opposed to St. Bonaventure’s 38.1 and 36 percent respectively. However, turnovers and free throws proved to be the difference maker in the Atlantic 10 basketball showdown. The Rams turned the ball over 17 times, while the Bonnies only coughed up the ball 11 instances. The Bonnies would outscore the Rams 18-7 in points off of turnovers. St. Bonaventure would also shoot 87 percent from the charity stripe, with Mobley missing two of the team’s three total missed free throws in the final 14 seconds of the game. Rhode Island would shoot 75 percent from the charity stripe.
For the Rams, “Batman and Batman” would show up and perform when needed. Jared
Terrell finished with 23 points, his highest total since playing at Dayton on Jan. 20. E.C
Matthews, who was initially listed as day-to- day with a bruised left knee, suited up and scored 14 points, all coming in the second half. Langevine contributed off the bench with a double-double, finishing with ten points and ten rebounds. Langevine is averaging 12.8 points and 10.5 rebounds over his last four games.
Friday night also marked the first Atlantic 10 loss that the Rams have suffered in 21
games. The last time the Rams lost in conference play was their controversial home loss to Fordham 53-43 on Feb. 15, 2017, almost exactly one year later. One thing that college basketball has proven is that all streaks must come to an end. The Rams held the nation’s longest winning streak of 16 games for a grand total of one day, as the No. 5 Cincinnati Bearcats lost to the University of Houston Cougars 67-62 on Thursday night. The University of Vermont Catamounts now hold the longest winning streak in New England and the country, sitting at 14 games.
Rhode Island now drops to 21-4 on the year and 13-1 in conference play, while St. Bonaventure extends their conference winning streak to eight games and move to 20-6 and 10-4 in conference play. The Rams will travel to Philadelphia to face off against the La Salle Explorers on Tuesday, Feb. 21, while the Bonnies welcome the Duquesne Dukes into the Reilly Center the same night.