ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The game was tied. There were only eight seconds left. Yet Michael Gerrity seemed to take the ball up the court a little slowly. But with the seconds ticking down, Gerrity slashed to the hoop.

He was blocked -- but drew contact. Gerrity was just as calm was he was bringing the ball up the court, draining a pair of free throws to give Charlotte a 75-73 win. The first lead of the second half for the 49ers came with just three-tenths of a second left.

The Rams led by as many as nine in the second half but couldn't put a pesky Charlotte team away. URI pulled back ahead by six after Jimmy Baron converted all his free throws after Charles Dewhurst fouled him on a three-point attempt. Later, Will Daniels put the Rams up five with a free throw but Leemire Goldwire drained a long-distance three from the top of the key to close the 49ers to 70-68. After a pair of Baron free throws, Goldwire hit another three to close the gap to 1 yet again.

With URI up two, senior Atlantic 10 first teamer Will Daniels fouled out. Charlie Coley calmly drained a pair of free throws to finally tie the score with 37 seconds left. URI called two timeouts to set up the next possession but Parfait Bitee was called for an offensive foul for pushing off with his forearm with 8.2 seconds left, leading to the final play.

Stats and commentary on the final 10 seconds after the jump.

Continue reading "A10: Charlotte Tops URI On FTs In Final Second" »

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Dayton won by a point in overtime. La Salle scored the final six points to win by 3. Okay, so Saint Joseph's bounced Fordham by almost 20, but the final game of the night is another close one. Charlotte has closed within one several times, but missed the front end of two one-and-ones while down by that margin. The 49ers still trail, 61-60, with just under four minutes left.

Rhode Island rolled off 8 consecutive points after the second media timeout and pulled ahead to its largest lead of the game at 9, but the Rams were hurt by a charge call on Will Daniels, his fourth, with nine minutes left. Daniels returned with about six minutes left. Forty seconds later, he drew the fourth foul on Charlotte big man Lamont Mack and hit a 1-of-2 free throws, blocked a shot down the other end, then drew another foul and split another pair.

Charlotte finally clamped down on Jimmy Baron; he's been scoreless for the past 10 minutes.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Rhode Island held around a 7-point edge for most of the early second half, but the Rams have closed to within a point, 51-50, with 11 minutes left. The Rams continue to throttle the game of Leemire Goldwire, who now has 10 points. Meanwhile, Rams star Will Daniels has gotten on track a bit for 11 points.

Jimmy Baron has 20 for the Rams. He had just 2 in 27 minutes in the March 8 game between the teams. Charlotte has tried a variety of defenders on Baron to little success. Another member of the all-name team, Parfait Bitee, has 5 points and has helped the URI defense's crackdown on Goldwire.

The 49ers cheerleaders have pulled out all the stops: Norm the Miner has been lifted in the air at the second media timeout. (To keep you up to date on mascot news: URI's Rhody the Ram is also in attendance.)

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Looks like we're in for our third close game of the day. Charlotte closed to within two, but Rhode Island's Will Daniels hit his first three of the game immediately after Charlotte closed to within two; the teams traded buckets for Rhode Island's 37-32 halftime lead.

The Rams' Jimmy Baron has 15 on a 5-of-10 shooting performance, including three triples. Daniels has 7 but is only 1-of-4 from the floor. An'Juan Wilderness has 10 and Leemire Goldwire has 8. Goldwire's 3-of-8 overall and 2-of-7 from three-point range.

The team stats are virtually identical, with URI shooting a little better (12-for-26 against 10-for-24) and has two more three-pointers.

The halftime show is the Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team, which was announced as having members "from some of the roughest parts of Chicago." I must say, they're pretty impressive. One of the tumblers has two Livestrong bracelets on, another did The Worm while jumping over perpendicular jump ropes. I'm going to see if I can find a website that will let me liveblog tumbling exhibitions after this tournament is over.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- That was quick. A couple of nice plays by Jimmy Baron, a couple of missed shots by Charlotte and suddenly the Rams are were up seven, 27-20. The score is now 30-23. Baron now has 15 points.

The URI fans behind the basket have grabbed a couple more boosters; they appear to also be students and not new recruits. A different section of URI fans has a girl of about 10 holding a sign reading "I'm from Charlotte but I root for URI"; her father is letting the referees have it.

An'Juan Wilderness has 10 for the 49ers.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Ahh, this is more like it. The pace is just a bit slower for this game so far. Okay, maybe a lot slower: Duquesne and La Salle had 29 combined points at the first media timeout; at the second one in Charlotte-Rhode Island, the teams had combined for just 19. Midway through the first half, the Rams are in front, 20-18. Both teams have led by a couple.

By far the sweetest play of the first half came from Charlotte's Michael Gerrity, who slashed down the right side of the lane and hit a reverse layup high off the glass.

Leemire Goldwire, who dropped 34 in Charlotte's 74-64 win in Kingston on March 8, has 5 points so far, as does An'Juan Wilderness (who also edges Duquesne's Reggie Jackson for best name of the night). For Rhode Island, junior guard Jimmy Baron has 8.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey, we have another game down here from the Monopoly board in New Jersey. The Atlantic 10's No. 6 seed, Charlotte, takes on No. 11 seed Rhode Island in tonight's nightcap. Both teams have decent-sized booster sections (especially considering the distance); Rhode Island even has a handful of students in "RHODY NATION" t-shirts.

One of them, with his face painted entirely blue complete with a blue mohawk, has begun exhorting other fans to join him in the student section. "Come on!" he's yelling. "I will buy you a beer if you sit in my section." It's also his birthday. Happy birthday, blue-faced Rhode Island fan!

Oh, there's also a basketball game, too. Rhode Island (21-19, 7-9 Atlantic 10) was ranked earlier in the year. The Rams opened the season 19-3 before stumbling; a six-game losing streak along with a season-ending loss to Charlotte four days ago probably ended any at-large bid hopes. Will Daniels, a first team All-Atlantic 10 section, averaged 18.8 points and 6.7 rebounds this year.

The 49ers ended the season with three wins, climbing back up into sixth in the league behind the play of Leemire Goldwire, who had six games with 30 or more points this year and also averaged 18.8 points.

The blue Rhody fan has yet to acquire any new rooters, and we're about to tip.

Posted by Daniel McQuade at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Interesting little tradition here at Dayton as several hundred fans have hung around to listen to Dayton head coach Brian Gregory's post game radio show held on the UD Arena court and broadcast on the PA system in the arena. This apparently has been going on for quite sometime here at Dayton. Obviously Gregory is given a large ovation as he approaches the table for his radio show after the nine-point victory.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Brian Roberts went 6-for-6 from the line down the stretch to put the game away for Dayton as they hand No. 22 Rhode Island its second loss of the season, 92-83.

The Flyers move to 13-1 overall and 10-0 at home in UD Arena.

Roberts led the way for Dayton with 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. He also dished out a game-high seven assists.

Marcus Johnson chipped in 14 points and five rebounds for Dayton. Amdres Sandoval added 12 points and shot 80 percent in the game.

Jimmy Baron led the Rams offensive attack with 26 points while teammate Will Daniels added 25 points on 11-for-16 shooting to go with six rebounds.

For the game, the Flyers shot 62 percent from the floor and 52.4 percent from beyond the arc. The Flyers also held a 20-12 assist advantage.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 09:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Dayton's Marcus Johnson was fouled but only made one of two free throws. As Rhode Island's' Parfait Bitee dribbled up the court, London Warren stole the ball and passed the ball up to Brian Roberts, who was fouled.

Roberts hit both free throws to ice the game for the Flyers with 31 seconds remaining.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Jimmy Baron has hit a three to put Rhode Island down four, 85-81, with 43.2 seconds left, and Dayton has just called a timeout.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Dayton's London Warren jumped on a loose ball and called timeout with one minute left and the Flyers are leading, 82-78. Dayton is in the double bonus and Rhode Island is in the bonus as well.

Out of the timeout, Marcus Johnson hit a three in the left corner, putting Dayton up, 85-78, with 58.3 seconds left and forcing the Rams to take a timeout.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Brian Roberts just hit a big three from the left wing to put Dayton back up nine, 82-73, with 2:21 left and forced Rhode Island to take a timeout. Roberts has 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Will Daniels of Rhode Island with a spinning layup on the block puts the Rams down six with 2:52 remaining. Daniels is the Rams second-leading scorer on the night with 20 but also has four fouls.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Both teams are playing their hearts out. A loose ball sent seven of the 10 players to the ground until Lamont Warren of Dayton came away with the ball and ran down the court, where he was fouled on the shot attempt and hit one of two free throws.

It's Dayton up, 74-70, with six minutes remaining.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Dayton's Andres Sandoval hit a three from win-a-million-dollar-range, which brought this capacity crowd to its feet.

It's Dayton leading, 71-65, with nine minutes remaining in the second half.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 08:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Will Daniels of Rhode Island just stole an outlet pass and was fouled on the layup, which he made along with the free throw.

Parfait Bitee followed that up with a three from the left wing to get the Rams within six points, and it's forced Dayton to take a timeout with the score at 64-58 with 12:06 remaining.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Both Dayton and Rhode Island have slowed down their shooting paces to open the second half. The Flyers have made 3-of-9 field goal attempts while the Rams have hit 3-of-7, with two of them being from three (one from Jimmy Baron and one from Will Daniels).

Right now it's Dayton leading, 61-49, UD, with 15 minutes left.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Brian Roberts hit a shot from the free throw line with about two seconds left on the clock to give Dayton a 54-41 lead at halftime. Brian Roberts has 11 points and five assists for the Flyers. Jimmy Baron has 12 points for the Rams. Dayton owns a 16-12 advantage on the boards and 14-5 lead in assists.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- Andres Sandoval just stole the ball and found Charles Little for a no-look alley-oop.

Dayton is leading, 52-41, with 40.6 seconds left.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 07:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DAYTON, Ohio -- With 2:31 left in the first half, Dayton has expanded the lead to nine points at 47-36. Both teams are shooting at a rather high percentage with the Flyers hitting 70 percent of their field goals and the Rams knocking down 50 percent of their shots.

Marcus Johnson leads Dayton with 10 points and Jimmy Baron has 10 for the Rams as well. Speaking of Baron, he's just checked back into the game from the scorer's table.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dayton, Ohio -- With 12:30 left in the first half, the Flyers own a 23-16 lead, anchored by Brian Roberts' nine points. The Rams have committed two straight turnovers, one on a charge and the other coming on a bad pass.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dayton, Ohio -- Welcome to UD Arena, where tonight No. 17 Dayton Flyers and No. 22 Rhode Island square off in an early conference season matchup of two of the top Atlantic 10 teams.

Dayton comes in with a record of 12-1 overall and a perfect 9-0 home record. The visiting Rams sport a 14-1 overall record, the school's best-ever non-conference record.

The Flyers are led by senior guard Brian Roberts and his 19 points per game while the Rams are paced by senior forward Will Daniels' 18-point average.

UD Arena has been packed for quite some time leading up to this important early conference game, so let's get ready for the action to unfold.

Posted by Chris Crawford at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)