TEANECK, N.J. — Will Martell had the best game of his college career last night, but he did not want to take a lot of credit for it.

The sophomore center, whose previous career high was six points, had 18 as his URI team topped Fairleigh-Dickinson, 95-80, at the Rothman Center. He also had five rebounds in 20 minutes of action.

“I didn’t do much,” Martell said. “I was 7-for-7 but I didn’t do any one-on-one moves.” Martell credited his teammates for getting him the ball in close. His first hoop was a 12-foot baseline jumper, but everything after that was in the paint.

“He gave us a spark. That’s why I started him in the second half,” said Rhody coach Jim Baron.

Martell, who played only 21 minutes all last season, had earned playing time with good defense.

“Now I’m getting more comfortable on offense,” he said. “Coach is calling plays for me now.”

The performance came with his family, as well as a number of high school friends, in the stands. Martell is from Fair Haven, N.J., about 75 minutes away.

As if his work was not enough, Baron also gave freshman Orion Outerbridge some playing time at the end of the first half. The 6-9 Outerbridge scored URI’s last five points of the half, including a 17-foot jumper and a hoop off the fastbreak on which he displayed excellent speed. The Rams now have plenty of options in the five spot.

Cothran back to early-season form

Keith Cothran broke out of a mini slump by leading the Rams with 20 points. He said the break for the holidays helped him. Well, not just the break, but a discussion with his father.

“When I was home I talked to my family and my father and wondered how I was going to be able to stomach losing games,” Cothran said. “They told me I had to try to win games instead of shying away.”

Cothran felt that he had not been playing as aggressively as he did early in the season, when he excelled, especially when the pace slowed. He was back to being the early-season Keith Cothran last night. He not only went 8-for-14 from the field, he also had a team-high six assists and two of URI’s 13 steals.

Baron a Senior CLASS Award nominee

Jimmy Baron has joined some elite company.

The senior guard is one of 30 players nominated for this year’s Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, perhaps the premier award reserved for senior student-athletes.

CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School. The award has been made since the 2001-02 season. Criteria focuses on the four “C’s” of classroom, character, community and competition. A vote is held among head coaches, national media and fans to determine the winner.

Others nominated include Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, the likely favorite, as well as A.J. Abrams of Texas, Dionte Christmas of Temple and Sam Young of Pittsburgh.

Previous winners have been Juan Dixon of Maryland, David West of Xavier, Jameer Nelson of Saint Joseph’s, Wayne Simien of Kansas, J.J. Redick of Duke, Alando Tucket of Wisconsin and Shan Foster of Vanderbilt last year.

With his 13 points last night, Baron moved past Bill Von Weyhe (Class of 1957) into 18th place on URI’s all-time scoring list with 1,400. Baron has been in double figures in every game this season.

A few points …

The victory gave URI nine, the third highest total in school history before Jan. 1. Last year’s team won 13 and the 2003-04 squad had 10 victories before thee first of the year. … Bryan Giannecchini, URI’s former all A-10 and all Colonial Conference kicker, was among those rooting the Rams on.

pkenyon@projo.com