BY AMAN KIDWAI
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid speculation about his future, Dan Hurley has guided Rhode Island into the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game where they will be seeking back-to-back titles.
The Rams on Saturday overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat No. 4 seed St. Joseph’s, 90-87, to advance to Sunday’s final, where they will meet Davidson, an 82-70 winner over St. Bonaventure in the second semifinal. The game will air at 1 p.m. on CBS.
Rhode Island beat VCU in last year’s final.
“We want to force Commissioner [Bernadette] McGlade to hand us a third straight trophy,” Hurley said, referring to the 2017 championship trophy and the 2018 regular-season crown. “That’s an exciting feeling.”
Hurley was not asked about his immediate future even as his name is being prominently mentioned for several high-profile jobs. The head coaching job at Pittsburgh opened up earlier this week and on Saturday UConn parted ways with Kevin Ollie.
The Rams ended their regular season on a sour note, with three losses in five games. St. Joseph’s handed URI one of those losses, and the worst one by far, a 78-48 beating at home in the Ryan Center in Kingston. “Their style I think was a little bit of our kryptonite,” Hurley said. “But we had a great season. We have championship culture, championship DNA, and we showed it today in a game that we had to fight our tail off to win.” Entering Saturday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had the Rams as a No. 8 seed. “Last year… we were fighting for our lives on the bubble coming in,” Hurley said. “But what we talked about is what it felt like on Sunday last year… landing in T.F. Green (airport) and having hundreds of fans. We want to experience that again, and we want to try to force Commissioner McGlade to hand us a third straight trophy.” Rams’ big man Andre Berry helped keep the team alive in the early going, with 14 first-half points on his way to 18 total to go along with nine rebounds. In the second half, the backcourt came to life as seniors E.C. Matthews (14 points, 5 rebounds) and Jeff Dowtin (16 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds) stepped up alongside freshman guard Fatts Russel (14 points); the trio scored 11, 8, and 10 of their points in the second half, respectively, and Dowtin also dished out eight second-half assists. Rhody’s experienced team handled the challenge of St. Joe’s and the big lead the Hawks built up with relative ease. They continued to patiently run their offense and just saw more shots fall in the second half. “I guess for the first half we were rushing our shots a little bit,” Dowtin explained. “But we were taking good shots knowing that we could make them and down the stretch, Fatts hit big threes and Dre hit a crucial layup, Stan [Robinson], J.T. everybody [was involved].”WATCH: @RhodyMBB freshman Fatts Russell (@daron_russell) reacts postgame to #URI‘s 90-87 win over Saint Joseph’s in the #A10MBB semifinals. Russell had 14 points & talks about his key baskets down the stretch and being able to win today for the seniors. @ABC6 pic.twitter.com/uLjljrqsyz
— Nick Coit (@NickCoit) March 10, 2018
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