Ben Bentil Blasts the Attendee's Early Bubble
HERE WE GO LADIES AND GENTS. URI VS. PC, THE OCEAN STATE RIVALRY BROUGHT TO YOU BY JIMMY V WEEK FIGHT AGAINST CANCER ON ESPNU, BROADCASTED BY KEVIN FITZGERALD AND FORMER PC HEAD COACH, TIM WELSH. I was nowhere near this excited when the game ended (typical URI basketball game).
With Jarvis Garrett hitting from here, there, and everywhere as he scored his 17 points on any defender, including the nation's best on-ball defender and a clear NBA lottery pick, Kris Dunn, URI looked like they would be firing on all cylinders. Also, Hassan Martin was a problem for PC as he totaled his 15 points, including his clear SportsCenter Top 10 dunk on Rodney Bullock (poor Rodney). Unfortunately, Rhody's supposed "sharpshooter" Four McGlynn was getting lucky to just barely hit the rim on any of his ridiculously inaccurate shots, as he totaled a solid 0 point on 0-8 shooting. McGlynn would have been best served to take the night off and watch the game from home. Meanwhile, Kris Dunn was doing a great job of distributing during his average shooting night and Ben Bentil and Rodney Bullock were practically unstoppable in the post.
One must always give credit where credit is due because even though the crowd was right at times to direct an "Overrated" chant at Kris Dunn throughout the night, he made WINNING plays. With 2:05 remaining in the game, Dunn recognized the inbounds play that the Rhode island Rams have run every single game of every single season, stole the pass, and jammed a thunderous dunk down, giving PC a 70-66 lead and thus taking all momentum away from the Rams and every single Rams fan in the sold out venue.
After an epic war between the only 2 colleges in Rhode Island with (nationally) relevant D1 basketball programs, the game came down to the final 2 possessions. Following a missed Jared Terrell mid-range jumper, Hassan Martin grabbed his 8th rebound of his game, and immediately passed the ball right back to Rhody's #32. With the pressure on and roughly 7 seconds left in the entire game, Terrell hit the elbow jumper to tie the game up at 72. No one in the Rams-heavy crowd could prepare for the final possession of the game, however. With URI intensifying their defense, Kris Dunn took the inbounds pass with 6.2 seconds remaining and drove through the entire URI defense to throw up a wild layup that clang off the rim before Ben Bentil tipped the ball in for the win over the much shorter and smaller Jarvis Garrett. I had the best view of anyone in the Ryan Center given that I was in the front row of the student section. I will never ever forget this game or that final possession in my life.
Another URI game at home ended in a crushing defeat against Ed Cooley and the PC mascot was ready to JuJu on That Beat...
