SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The longest week of the season for the URI basketball team turned out to be a good one, almost a great one.

The Rams came up with their third outstanding effort in seven days when they fought past a very good Virginia Commonwealth team, 92-86, at the Ryan Center last night.

Playing a team that won 52 times in the last two years and is favored to win the Colonial title again this season, URI lost a 10-point second half lead, fell behind by four, but then scored 16 points in the game’s final four minutes to win it.

It was as good a team effort as URI has had in some time as all five starters scored in double figures. All made key contributions down the stretch. Keith Cothran scored a career high 23 points, Jimmy Baron and Kahiem Seawright each had 17, Delroy James 14 and Marquis Jones 10.

They did it despite a hectic schedule that has seen them make two trips, to Duke and Monmouth, that resulted in early-morning return trips home, leaving very little time to practice. Coach Jim Baron felt his team was so tired that the Friday practice, the only chance to meet before the VCU game, did not include any on-court work.

“We didn’t do anything in practice but walk through,” Baron said. “I was concerned that we’d be a little up and down, but we’ve been more up than down.”

That’s putting it mildly. The Rams played well in all three games, including last night, even if last night was very different.

Perhaps the most telling statistic was that VCU shot 60.7 percent from the field — 34-for-56 — and still lost.

It lost because URI also harassed the visiting Rams into 26 turnovers. URI scored 43 points off the turnovers, which included 11 steals.

“I thought we were done in by things that we hang our hat on, defending, rebounding and valuing the basketball,” said VCU coach Anthony Grant. “They shot 54 percent and had 19 offensive rebounds. We turned the ball over 26 times. It’s amazing we even had a chance to be in the game.”

It was another fun game to watch as it included 12 ties and 19 lead changes. Both teams made numerous runs. Eric Maynor, VCU’s All-American guard, had only three points in the first 28 minutes. But he went wild late, all but carrying his team down the stretch. Maynor finished with a stuffed stat sheet, not all of it good — 22 points, eight assists and 10 turnovers.

The first half was a game of runs, lots of runs by each team. There were 10 ties and 10 lead changes before it ended in a 43-43 tie.

URI went out early, 12-6. Then VCU led 19-14. Rhode Island responded with nine straight points for a 23-19 lead. VCU then had five in a row to go on top, 24-23. Rhody was up 28-27, then VCU 32-28, URI 38-32 and VCU 43-41 before Cothran had the final basket of the half to tie it at 43.

VCU led, 49-46, after a hoop by Bradford Burgess with 16:58 left. Five minutes later, Rhode Island had 58-50 advantage. James had six points, Seawright four and Jones two in the 12-1 run, but the key was defense, not offense.

The visiting Rams had seven possessions in that time. They had six turnovers. The only possession that did not result in a turnover was when T.J. Gwynn was fouled and made one of two free throws.

The Rhody lead peaked at 61-51. That’s when Maynor woke up. He had three straight baskets to get his team back in it. When Maynor dropped in a layup off a steal, his team was ahead, 69-66.

VCU’s last lead was 82-81. James, Baron, Cothran and Jones all had points down the stretch that won it for URI, providing a satisfying ending to a draining week. It began the week with a trip to Duke and led the Blue Devils most of the way before falling 82-79. Then the team swept past Monmouth. The focus was so positive after the Duke game that Baron felt he had to talk to his players

“It was almost like they won. I had to remind the kids we lost the game, get them back to earth,” Baron said.

The team not only came back to earth, but it played well again to up its record to 3-1. VCU dropped to 2-1.URI

92

VCU

86

Next Game

Tuesday

vs. Hartford

7 p.m.

pkenyon@projo.com