URI’s Kahiem Seawright gets past Northeastern’s Nkem Ojougboh in the first half. Seawright scored 19 points and had seven rebounds to lead the Rams.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

BOSTON — At halftime of its game against Northeastern last night, it was easy to think that the URI basketball team was in trouble.

The Rams had played an excellent offensive first half. They had hit 59 percent of their shots — 16 of 27. Yet they were still behind, 42-39.

If shooting 59 percent was not enough to get the lead, what could the Rams do?

It turns out they simply shot even better. They hit an awesome 68 percent in the second half, 17 of 25, as they took control and beat the Huskies, 85-72, at Matthews Arena.

“They’re a terrific shooting basketball team,” said Northeastern coach Bill Coen. “They have a great inside-outside combination.”

Rhody coach Jim Baron was happy about the offense his team displayed, but even happier about the defense.

“Our defense did a much, much better job in this game than in the Villanova game [last Saturday],” Baron said. “The guys emphasized positioning and we rebounded better, too.”

Baron pointed out that a good chunk of the offense came from good defense. Perhaps surprisingly, the full-court press was the key.

The Rams have pressed all season, but not very effectively, at least not in picking up steals. Led by Keith Cothran, the press gave Northeastern fits. Cothran had six steals himself, three in the early minutes of the second half, all of which led to baskets that helped URI not only regain the lead, but pull away.

Cothran finished with 17 points and four rebounds to go with his six steals. He also held Matt Janning, the Huskies’ leading scorer, to eight points on 4-for-14 shooting.

Even with all that, Cothran had competition for the game’s top star. Co-captain Kahiem Seawright played one of his best all-around games in a Rhody uniform. Seawright came within one point of his career high with 19 and filled the stat sheet everywhere. He also had seven rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a steal.

URI needed Seawright to step up since Northeastern (3-4) gave URI all it could handle in the first 20 minutes.

The Rams had begun the game on fire. They hit 10 of their first 12 shots in jumping out to a 24-13 lead. They led by as many as 15 and were shooting their 59 percent at the break — yet still trailed by three. That’s because Northeastern made 58 percent of its shots. At one point, the Huskies ran off 12 straight points to pull within three, then scored the final nine of the half to leave with a 42-39 advantage at the break.

“We had mental lapses. We kind of got comfortable as a team,” Seawright said of the loss of the first-half lead.

The Rams more than regained their focus when the second half began. They blitzed the Huskies with 16 straight points. Cothran caused Northeastern all kinds of trouble at the defensive end with his steals, two of which he turned into easy hoops for himself.

“That’s why we call him Klepto,” Seawright said of Cothran, who was second in the Atlantic 10 in steals last season.

“I wasn’t even aware of the steals,” said Cothran, whose career high in steals is seven. “I was just trying to play defense.”

When URI was on offense, the team got the ball inside to Seawright and he controlled play in the paint.

Seawright was 7-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 from the floor. Once URI had the run to start the second half, which put it ahead 55-42, Northeastern had to play at the rapid tempo the Rams like.

“We knew we had to slow the pace down. We did it for a short time in first half, but we couldn’t sustain it for the whole game,” Coen said. “After we got behind, we had to play faster and that kind of plays into their hands.”

pkenyon@projo.com