Williams scored his 1000th career point on a three-pointer with seven minutes remaining in the game as the Anchormen outlasted the Huskies for the win to improve to 15-7 overall and 8-4 in the Little East. The loss drops the Huskies to 10-13 overall and 3-9 in the LEC.
Williams was one of four RIC players to reach double-figures and finished the game with 10 points. Junior guard Brian Stanko (Swansea, Mass./Joseph Case) netted a team-high 17 points, while senior guard Kevin Payette (Woonsocket, Rhode Island/Woonsocket) and freshman guard Tirrell Hill (Bronx, N.Y./All Hallows) added 12 and 11 points respectively.
USM junior forward Ian Hebert (New Gloucester, Maine/Gray-New Gloucester) led all scorers with a career-high 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Senior forward Bill Hardwick (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) and sophomore guard Andy Frost (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) chipped in with 17 points each for the Huskies. Hardwick grabbed a team-high six rebounds for USM, while Frost had a game-high six steals.
In a closely contested second half, RIC was able to answer each of USM’s runs with key baskets en route to the win. Trailing by seven at the break, 33-26, USM cut its deficit to two points three times in the opening seven minutes of the second half and trailed by four points 61-57 with just under six minutes to play in the game following a lay-up from Hardwick.
After a time-out, RIC book-ended a free throw from USM’s Frost with a jumper from Payette and a three-pointer from junior guard Kinsey Durgin (Greenwood, Maine/Telstar) to take an eight-point lead 66-58 with 4:45 remaining. Both teams traded baskets over the next few possessions and RIC clung to its eight-point advantage, 71-63, with just under two minutes left in the game, before Hardwick knocked down his only three of the night to cut the deficit to five, 71-66, to keep the Huskies in the game with 1:30 remaining. RIC, however, was to hold on for the win as Stanko drained all four of his free throw attempts in the final minute of action.
Both teams played evenly offensively with the Huskies shooting 42.1 percent for the game (24-for-57) while RIC shot 41.8 percent (28-for-67), but the game was won from long range as RIC made 14 three-pointers including three each from Stanko and Hill. RIC shot 40 percent (14-for-35) from long-range for the game, while USM only connected on two of its 15 attempts (13 percent) from three-point range
Southern Maine returns to action on Tuesday (February 14) at home against the UMass Boston Beacons at 7:30 p.m. Rhode Island plays again on the same date when it travels to UMass Dartmouth for a 7:30 p.m. contest.