Earning their third straight win, Rhode Island College improves to 16-7 overall and 10-2 in the Little East. Suffering its fifth consecutive defeat, Southern Maine falls to 6-17 overall and 2-10 in the conference.

DeCiantis added nine rebounds to his game-high 20 points to pace RIC.  Michael Palumbo added 11 points, while Chris Burton and Victor Smith each tossed in eight points.

Sophomore Sean Caddigan (Bethel, Maine/Telstar) led USM with 12 points off of the bench. Caddigan sank 4-of-6 from three-point range.  Senior Conor Sullivan (Scarborough, Maine) added 11 points, six rebounds and three steals.  Senior Tyler Penney (Barnstead, N.H./Bishop Brady) added eight points. 

Trailing by 16 points, 28-12, late in the first half, Southern Maine rallied to pull itself to within three points of the Anchormen, 39-36, midway through the second half after a jumper from the top of the key from sophomore forward Jacob Littlefield (Mechanic Falls, Maine/Poland Regional).

With the Huskies' threatening, RIC created separation with a 9-0 run to grab a 48-36 lead with 6:52 to play.  Four different players scored in the run for the Anchormen, led by four points from DeCiantis. Southern Maine responded however and made it a two possession game outscoring RIC 9-2 over the next three minutes to trail 50-45.  Caddigan started the rank hitting a three in transition, before Sullivan knocked down two free throws with 4:01 to play.

RIC closed out the game outscoring the Huskies 10-3 in the final minutes, making 8-of-9 free throws down the stretch.  

Southern Maine travels to UMass Boston on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.).  Rhode Island College travels to UMass Dartmouth on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.). Both games are Little East Conference contests.    

–cac–