Through a strong start and shades of woes from the past, the University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team battled through a contest with Lafayette College on Wednesday, taking the win over the Leopards 86-72.

In a start that gave the Ryan Center something to cheer about, the Rams stampeded out of the gates to a 14-0 run to start the game. Lafayette was unable to tack their first points on the board until there was 15:55 left in the first half, when second-year guard Mark Butler converted a pair of free throws.

Although the Rams never surrendered their lead in the contest, it did not stop the Leopards from taking on some offensive runs of their own. The Leopards outscored the Rams 22-17 through the final 11:03 of the first half.

“[In] the second half we were lackadaisical in terms of identifying shooters,” URI Head Coach Archie Miller said. “[Lafayette] didn’t have a whole lot of rhythm opportunities in the first half, they were way more comfortable in the second half facing the basket with very little resistance in terms of pressing up.”

Although the middle portion was grim for the home crowd, the Rams were able to pull away in the end of the contest, as the final 5:05 saw Rhode Island outscore the Leopards 12-8.

The bright spot of the contest for Rhode Island resided with two key players: fourth-year guard Sebastian Thomas and fifth-year forward David Green.

Thomas tallied a floor-high 23 points, dishing out nine assists while committing only two turnovers as the team’s primary ball handler.

“I felt like I did a good job at [getting my teammates involved],” Thomas said. “I think that is one of the best things that I bring to the table…I like to get a lot of guys involved, I have a bunch of players around me who can put the ball in the basket and shoot the ball so it’s my job to find them.”

David Green is one of those players who can put the ball in the basket, as his 17 points ranked second on the team. Although his scoring was a strength, the big draw to Green on the night was his rebounding ability. The forward came down with 14 rebounds, with three of them coming on the offensive glass.

“[Green] is playing his tail off right now for us,” Miller said. “We need him to rebound in particular like that, but he stepped up in a lot of big moments in the game. I thought Dave was fantastic.”

While the Rams came out of the contest with a win, a ghost of their 2023-24 campaign was evident in the Ryan Center eight months after the finale of last season: free throws.

The Rams shot 64.7% from the free throw line last year, and through the first three games the Rams had seemed like they eradicated the issue, shooting 77.5% during the start of this season. However, on Wednesday night, Rhode Island was not where it had been to start off the year, going 24-40 from the line.

“For the first time all year we didn’t really connect at the percentage that we had from the line,” Miller said. “[If] you shoot 40 free throws that is a lot of foul shots, and to leave as many as we left on the board, I thought [it] probably left the game dangling a little bit too much.”

Up next for Rhode Island, it hosts a College of Charleston team that defeated it 85-70 last season, but the Rams will hope their home court advantage helps them out this time around. The game tips-off at noon on Sunday and the contest can be streamed on ESPN+, or listened to on WRIU 90.3FM or The Varsity Network.

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