Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content
MBB Team Huddle
73
Winner Rhode Island Col. RHODE IS 15-11, 7-9 LEC
70
Southern Me. SOUTHERN 14-12, 9-7 LEC
Winner
Rhode Island Col. RHODE IS
15-11, 7-9 LEC
73
Final
70
Southern Me. SOUTHERN
14-12, 9-7 LEC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Rhode Island Col. RHODE IS 38 35 73
Southern Me. SOUTHERN 36 34 70

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Christina Cracolici, Director of Athletic Communications

2024 Little East Conference Tournament: No. 5 RIC Upends No. 4 Southern Maine 73-70

GORHAM, Maine  –  CJ Wilson went 5-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 1:22 of the game to help the No. 5 seeded Rhode Island College Anchormen to a 73-70 win over the No. 4 seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies in the quarterfinal round of the 2024 Little East Conference Tournament Tuesday night at Hill Gymnasium.
 
Wilson was one of four Anchormen in double-figures, finishing the game 8-for-10 from the free throw line for 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.  Deyshawn Tengbeh notched a double-double with 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while Ousmane Kourouma had 17 points, nine rebounds, shooting 8-for-10 from the field.  Cam Wilson added 10 points off of the bench.
 
Southern Maine senior Chance Dixon (Lake Worth, Fla./Santaluces) led all scorers with 21 points.  Sophomore Tommy Whelan (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) added 20 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists, while freshman Brady Saunders (Brewer, Maine) added 11 points.  Senior Cody Hawes (Carmel, Maine/Hermon) chipped in with seven points, a team-high nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
 
The Records:
No. 5 Rhode Island College (15-11)
No. 4 Southern Maine (14-12)
 
Today's game marked the 146th meeting between the University of Southern Maine Huskies and the Rhode Island College Anchormen.  Rhode Island College leads the overall series 80-66, and swept the regular season games on December 6 contest 70-66 in Gorham, and 60-57 in Providence on January 24.  Southern Maine last defeated the Anchormen 89-76 on January 25, 2023, ending a previous 12-game losing streak.
 
How It Happened:
  • RIC went 3-for-3 on its first three possessions and raced out to an 8-0 lead with less than 90 second off of the clock.  Dixon got the Huskies on the board with a three, but the Anchormen remained red-hot from the floor and led USM 21-9 with 11:52 remaining in the half. RIC was 9-for-13 from the field during that stretch, including 3-for-3 from three and was led by eight points from Kourouma.
  • Down by 12, the Huskies rallied over the next 11:52 outscoring RIC 27-17 to pull themselves to within a bucket of the Anchormen at the halftime break. Whelan and freshman Justin Allen (Franklin, Mass.) keyed the Huskies offensive with six straight points.  Whelan, who had 14 of his 20 points in the first half, scored 11 of the Huskies final 27 points, including a buzzer-beating long-distance jumper for a 38-36 game.
  • RIC's Tengbeh scored the first bucket of the second half, but the Huskies responded with five unanswered on a three from Saunders and a layup from Dixon to take their first lead of the game, 41-40, with 18:47 in regulation. Trading points, USM had its last lead of the game, 43-42, on a bucket from senior Clay Kuhn (Winter Park, Fla./Dr. Phillips), before Kourouma scored five of the Anchormen's eight points in a pivotal 8-2 run to lead 50-45 with 11:52 left.
  • The Huskies responded with a 6-2 run with Dixon leading the way with a three and a traditional three-point play to make it a one-point game 52-51 with 10:08 on the clock, but RIC went on a 6-0 run of its own to lead 58-51 on a layup from Isiah McCallum. 
  • Trailing by seven 60-53 with just over five to go, Southern Maine hit some big threes down the stretch and pulled to within a possession of RIC four times over the next four minutes.  Allen's three with 1:22 to go made it a 68-66 game in the Anchormen's favor, but Southern Maine was unable to get any closer as Wilson closed the game out on the line.  
 
Inside The Stats:
  • Rhode Island College shot 51.9 percent (28-for-54) from the game, including a red-hot 57.1 percent (16-or-28) in the first half. Southern Maine shot 43.3 percent (29-for-67) from the field.
  • Led by Tengbeh's 13 rebounds, the Anchormen had a 41-28 lead in rebounding.  RIC also had a slim lead in offensive boards, 12-11, and outscored the Huskies 16-8 in second chance buckets.  Kourouma had five offensive rebounds.
 
Up Next:
The loss concludes the 2023-2024 season for the Huskies.  Rhode Island College advances to play top-seeded Keene State College on Thursday (7:00 pm) in the semifinals of the LEC tournament.
.  
-cac-
 
Print Friendly Version