The University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team fell 70-66 in overtime on Saturday to Fordham University, marking the third loss in the last four games.
URI faced off in a battle of the Rams against Fordham on Saturday to begin their homestand. Rhody looked to bounce back from their 75-70 road loss against George Washington University on Feb. 10 and extend their home winning streak to three games.
The Rams got the ball rolling early, accumulating a game-high 12-point lead in the first seven minutes of game time. Seventh-year guard Tyler Cochran scored the first eight points of the game for Rhody, six of which came from back-to-back threes.
Fordham followed up with a 10-2 run in the next four minutes to cut the lead to four and bring the score to 18-14. Fordham’s last seven points scored in the run came from fourth-year Christian Henry, who finished with 16 total points.
URI brought its lead back up to 12 points with 2:13 left in the first half with a 13-5 run. Cochran hit two shots during the run to finish the first half with 14 points and a perfect 6-6 from the field and 2-2 from beyond the arc.
Fordham brought Rhody’s lead down to seven over the last two minutes of the first half with a second-chance layup from third-year forward Rikus Schulte and a three from fifth-year guard Dejour Reaves.
In a start eerily similar to the first half, URI brought its lead back up to 12. Fordham went on a 10-2 run over the next two minutes to cut the lead to within four before URI brought the lead back up to double-digits.
The teams traded buckets from the 11-minute mark to the five-minute mark of the second half to bring the score to 60-52 in favor of Rhody.
Fordham first-year forward Roor Akhaur made his third, and final, three-pointer of the game off the backboard with 22 seconds left to tie the game, for the first time since 18:32 remained in the first half, at 63 to cap off an 11-3 run for Fordham over the final five minutes and tie the game.
“There’s only one thing you don’t want them to do, and that’s to get a three-point shot off,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “You’d love to have them shoot a two or drive the ball. So, we’ll keep at it, we got a good group of guys. At this time of year, your players have to respond in a good way.”
In overtime, neither team seemed to be able to hit a shot, as the teams combined to go 1-7 from the field. The one field goal made was by Henry, who hit a three with 1:15 left in overtime to give Fordham its first lead of the day at 67-64.
Rhody had multiple chances at the line to either tie or take the lead in the final minute of play, but fifth-year forward Alex Crawford and Cochran combined to go 2-4 from the free-throw line to keep URI trailing 67-66.
Fordham made its free throws and secured the 70-66 win. Cochran led all players with 25 points in 44 minutes, his third-straight game with 20 or more points. Reaves, Schulte and Henry combined for 52 of Fordham’s 70 points.
“We’ve been such a mass unit in the last two or three weeks with guys in and out of games that you’re sort of learning how to play with new [lineup] combinations,” Miller said. “But there’s a load on [Cochran]. He’s playing a lot of minutes.”
The Rams had to regroup on a tight turnaround to face the nationally-ranked No. 18 Saint Louis University on Tuesday in the Ryan Center. To read about the result, turn to page one or head to rhodycigar.com.
