University of Maine
Rhode Island
Men's Basketball Falls to Rhode Island In 100th Meeting
11/8/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
KINGSTON, R.I. – Xavier Pollard and Dimitry Akanda-Coronel both led the way with career-high point totals but Rhode Island had four players with double-digits as they defeated Maine men's basketball, 97-77 in Kingston R.I. The game was the Black Bears first of the season and the 100thmeeting between the two schools as the win pushes the series lead to 86-14 in favor of the Rams.
Rebounding and fouls troubled the Black Bears in their first game. The Rams took down 55 rebounds and scored 33 points off free throws. Likewise Maine committed 31 fouls while managed 28 rebounds.
Ifeanyi Onyekaba led the way for the Rams scoring 21 total points shooting 8-of-10 from the floor and going 5-of-10 from the stripe. Rhode Island also had Martin Hassan (15 points), Xavier Munford (11 points), and Jarelle Rieschel (18 points) who reached double-digit point totals.
For Maine, Pollard flourished in his increased role shooting 9-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-5 in free throw attempts. Meanwhile Akanda-Coronel went 6-of-16 from field goal range, 2-of-8 from three-point land and 4-of-6 from the stripe to get to his career-high of 18 points.
The Black Bears shot 41 percent for the game while Rhode Island hit 46 percent of their opportunities.
Rhode Island opened up the scoring in the first half as Onyekaba made a layup in the game's first minute. The Rams then rode a 9-4 run into the first media timeout.
Pollard helped to stop the bleeding a bit before the break forcing a steal in the defensive zone, breaking down the court and dishing a pass to Akanda-Coronel who slammed down the dunk.
Akanda-Coronel cut the Rams lead to 19-13 in the middle of the first frame with another Dunk asMarko Pirovic forced a steal and fed it to a streaking Akanda-Coronel, who in turn, dunked it with authority.
Coming out of the third media break, Zarko Valjarevic drained a trey to cut the Rhode Island lead to 29-24.
After cashing in on a multitude of free-throw opportunities the Rams benefited from a Xavier Munford three-pointer, as it gave the Rhode Island, its largest lead to that point, putting the squad up 40-30.
The Rams ended the half on a 12-5 run, sparked by two layups by Onyekaba and one by EC Mathews, finishing the half up 52-35.
Fouls plauged the Black Bears in the first half as the Rams tallied 18 points off of free-throw chances while they outrebounded the Black Bears 28-13 through the first frame.
In the second half Pollard continued his hot hand as he recorded two early free throws and dashed down the court a few minutes later and registered a layup to cut the deficit to 56-41.
Akanda-Coronel diced in moments later and put in a layup of his own cutting the Rhode Island lead to 53-39.
The Rams took over after that, outscoring Maine 45-42 throughout the second half, bolstering their first half lead, to close out the game, 97-77.
Onyekaba was the big point producer for the Rams accounting for 11-second half points through that run.
Pollard once again led the way in the second half tallying 11 points in the final frame.
Maine will have an opportunity to bounce back on Sunday when the Black Bears host Fisher at Memorial Gymnasium. That game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tip.
