KINGSTON, R.I. – Brandan Stith scored 14 points, hauled down 13 rebounds, rejected two shots, dished out two assists and had two steals, but it was not enough as the Old Dominion men’s basketball team (5-3, 0-0 C-USA) fell to Rhode Island (6-3, 0-0 A10) by a 51-39 score on Tuesday night at the Ryan Center.
After trailing by 14 at the half, the Monarchs started the second half on a 10-4 run, trimming their deficit to eight, 35-27, while holding the Rams to just four points (1-11 FG) in over nine minutes of action.
With 1:45 to play, ODU pulled within nine, 45-36; and then again at the 44-second mark, 47-38, before ultimately falling to the Rams on Tuesday night in Kingston.
“Rhode Island came out and punched us in the mouth and we didn’t respond,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “I kept thinking we were going to respond, but we didn’t. We regrouped and had more fight in the second half. We got the lead down to eight and we had a chance, but we just shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”
Ahmad Caver chipped in eight points, three rebounds and one assist, while Randy Haynes scored seven points and had seven boards. Denzell Taylor grabbed eight rebounds to compliment three points, one block and one steal.
The Monarchs held URI to four made field-goals on 19% (4-21) shooting from the floor in the second half and 32.7% (16-49) for the ballgame.
The Rams used a 14-2 run to claim 31-17 advantage at halftime after forcing 11 ODU first half turnovers and holding the Monarchs to 29.2% shooting from the floor. Brandan Stith paced the Monarchs in the opening 20 minutes with six points, a half-high five rebounds, two assists and one steal.
E.C. Matthews led all scorers with 15 points for Rhode Island.
Next Up…VCU at ODU
The Monarchs will return home to take on VCU [RV] on Dec. 10, on a night that ODU will retire Kent Bazemore’s jersey at halftime into the Old Dominion Ring of Honor. The game will be televised on the American Sports Network (ASN). Tipoff is slated for 8:00 p.m. at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Mike Gleason and Mack McCarthy will be on the call for ASN.
Saturday night’s game will also air on the ODU Sports Radio Network. Old Dominion Senior Associate Athletic Director Ted Alexander will take care of the play-by-play duties, while ODU Hall of Famer and former NBA champion Dave Twardzik will handle color commentary. Ted and Dave’s live pregame show will begin at 7:30 p.m. The ODU Sports Radio Network includes ESPN Radio 94.1 FM (Norfolk), Sports FM 100.5 (Richmond), 94.1 FM WLVA and Fox Sports 580 (Lynchburg).
Single-Game & Season Tickets
Single-game and season tickets for Old Dominion University men’s basketball are on sale now at www.ynottix.com or by calling 757-683-4444. For group pricing (10+), please call Todd McKeating at 757-683-7087. All ODU students get in free all year long.
Follow on Social Media!
For a more in-depth look into the men’s basketball program, be sure to follow @ODUMBB on Twitter, ‘ODU Basketball’ on Facebook and odu_mbb on Instagram.