SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Whatever hopes the University of Rhode Island harbored for a men’s basketball Senior Day upset of Saint Joseph’s disappeared on a rare made 3-pointer. 

Jaiden Glover-Toscano connected on just one of his eight attempts from deep, and it turned out to be a backbreaker. The Hawks mustered just enough offense to hold off the Rams at the Ryan Center in an Atlantic 10 rock fight that went to the visitors. 

Glover-Toscano hit from the left wing with 3:37 left, restoring a two-possession lead. Saint Joseph’s did just enough from there to finish a 61-55 victory on Feb. 28 and extend URI’s late-season slide. 

“We needed to get that stop,” URI coach Archie Miller said. “It was in the balance. Those last three minutes, whoever was going to make the play or get the stop was going to win.

“They made a big shot right there.” 

The Rams cut a 13-point deficit all the way to 56-55 when Tyler Cochran knocked down both ends of a 1-and-1 at the line with 3:54 left. The Hawks overloaded the right side on the ensuing possession, and Derek Simpson got a step on his man toward the paint. He fired a crosscourt pass to Glover-Toscano that caught URI’s defense rotating, and the air came out of the announced 6,391 fans in the building when the net rippled in front of the visiting bench. 

“We weren’t able to convert,” Miller said. “That’s kind of the name of the game. You’ve got to have some plays go your way.” 

Myles Corey missed a 3-pointer at the other end, and Simpson played facilitator again to give Saint Joseph’s more of a cushion. He found Justice Ajogbor rolling to the rim for a slam with 2:36 left and it was a six-point game. Neither team scored again on an afternoon where they both shot under 40% from the field and went a combined 10-for-61 from deep. 

“The bottom line for our team today – and let’s just keep it simple – is we didn’t make a shot,” Miller said. “We really struggled to shoot the ball.” 

The Hawks built their largest lead with 13:53 to play, thanks to what was a major sore spot on the afternoon for the Rams. URI couldn’t inbound the ball after an Ajogbor free throw, and Jonah Hinton was called for an offensive foul. Simpson drove for a two-hand slam on the ensuing possession, part of a 13-0 shutout for the visitors on points off turnovers. 

“We have no room for error,” Miller said. “That plays a big role.” 

The Rams (15-14, 6-10 Atlantic 10) enjoyed their best stretch of the day after falling into that 44-31 hole. Alex Crawford offered some life with a couple of 3-pointers, and Jahmere Tripp buried another from the left corner to make it a 54-51 game with 5:10 left. Crawford’s hard drive down the right kept it a three-point game, and Cochran’s successful trip to the line put URI in position to steal it late. 

“I feel like we had open shots,” Crawford said. “We had a lot of good looks – shots we usually make.” 

Saint Joseph’s (19-10, 11-5) won its fourth straight and continued an impressive rally from an 0-2 start in league play. The Hawks are on course for a double bye in the upcoming conference tournament, while the Rams look increasingly likely to play on the opening day in Pittsburgh. A home date with Duquesne and a road trip to Fordham wrap the regular season this week, and URI hopes guard RJ Johnson (concussion protocol) will be able to return at some point. 

“It did hurt a little bit,” Crawford said. “You face adversity, you’ve got to find a way to make up for missed players.” 

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – What was a peerless achievement in University of Rhode Island women’s basketball history now has some company just four short years later. 

The Rams are Atlantic 10 regular-season champions again after a special Saturday afternoon in Kingston, a coronation more than a contest against visiting George Washington. 

The Revolutionaries never had a chance after the hosts got off to a sharp start at the Ryan Center. URI left no doubt in front of its best crowd of the season, and a significant portion of that gathering stuck around long after the final whistle to see the nets cut down again. 

It was all Rams in this 72-48 cruise, a result that matched what was a first in 2022-23 and handed URI a No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. George Mason dropped to the No. 2 spot despite posting the same 16-2 league record as the Rams, and that came thanks to a comprehensive 79-63 defeat in a Valentine’s Day matchup.  

“There’s nothing more satisfying as a coach than to have the confetti fall and to cut down nets with this group of young women,” URI coach Tammi Reiss said. “I’ve never been prouder.” 

URI scored on each of its first five offensive possessions and authored a masterpiece through the opening three quarters. It was only in the fourth when Reiss emptied her bench that George Washington showed any semblance of being able to keep pace. Palmire Mbu led three in double figures with 23 points, and Sophia Vital played yet another complete all-around game to help the Rams run roughshod. 

“We were just extra motivated today,” Mbu said. “We wanted to do great for our crowd.  

“Just trying my best. Trying to be aggressive and to give solutions on offense and defense. It felt good.” 

URI owned a 21-point lead entering the final 10 minutes, thanks to 18 assists, just two turnovers and 63.4% shooting from the field. The Rams buried the offensive struggles they experienced in road losses to La Salle and Richmond with what had been a typical display of crisp execution. URI closed 26-for-35 from 2-point range, collected 48 points in the paint and racked up another 17 off Revolutionaries turnovers. 

“I do believe the last four years we had talented teams – we had talented players,” URI guard Ines Debroise said. “But I think it’s also how we can put all the pieces of the puzzle together. This year that’s what we were going to do from day one.” 

Mbu’s bucket off a Vanessa Harris steal gave the Rams a 25-10 lead and forced a George Washington timeout with 6:38 left in the second quarter. It seemed just a matter of time before this one was out of reach, and Brooklyn Gray followed a Debroise 3-pointer with a pair of layups to make it a 32-12 cushion. URI’s lead never dipped under 12 points again, and Mbu’s hook in the lane capped an 8-0 run that took it back to 58-38 with 1:00 left in the third. 

Video of URI coach Tammi Reiss speaking postgame on Feb. 28

URI women’s basketball beats George Washington to win the Atlantic 10 regular-season championship

“They were sharing the ball in a championship game,” Reiss said. “It wasn’t 1-on-1. That’s what makes this team special.” 

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The Rams (25-4, 16-2 Atlantic 10) set a new program best for conference wins in a season and are now one shy from a new overall mark – they collected 26 while making a run to the WNIT Round of 16 in 2022-23. URI shared the league crown with rival Massachusetts that year before suffering a semifinal upset against Saint Louis and missing out on a third meeting with the Minutewomen. 

“Their job is to show up and be us,” Reiss said. “Execute our game plan with discipline and ferocity for 40 minutes. Our job is to manage them – their health, their minutes.” 

The Revolutionaries (15-16, 7-11 Atlantic 10) dropped to the No. 10 seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will play No. 7 Saint Louis in the second round on Thursday, March 5. The Rams will open Friday’s quarterfinals in an 11 a.m. tip on the USA Network against either No. 8 Loyola Chicago or No. 9 St. Bonaventure. No. 4 Davidson and No. 5 Saint Joseph’s are in URI’s half of the bracket, while the second-seeded Patriots and third-seeded Spiders could be on a semifinal collision course in the other half at Henrico Sports & Events Center. 

“It’s going to be tough for everybody – probably three games in three days,” Mbu said. “We’ve got to push to the end and play like we’ve been doing.” 

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GEORGE WASHINGTON (48): Sara Lewis 2-10 2-2 6, Gabby Reynolds 7-13 2-2 17, Tanah Becker 1-2 1-1 3, Mia James 2-6 0-0 4, Kamari Sims 2-4 0-0 4, Emma Theodorsson 0-6 2-2 2, Jaeda Wilson 1-2 0-0 2, Filipa Calisto 2-2 0-0 4, Colleen Phiri 0-0 0-0 0, Caia Loving 2-2 0-0 4, Payton Dulin 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 20-48 7-9 48. 

RHODE ISLAND (72): Palmire Mbu 9-14 3-4 23, Albina Syla 5-6 0-0 10, Brooklyn Gray 5-6 0-0 11, Sophia Vital 3-6 1-2 7, Ines Debroise 4-7 0-0 9, Vanessa Harris 3-7 0-0 7, Aimee Michel 2-2 0-0 4, Valentina Ojeda 0-2 0-0 0, Ta’Viyanna Habib 0-0 0-0 0, Eva Agba 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 31-51 5-8 72. 

Halftime – RI, 40-25. 3-point FG – GW 1-8 (Reynolds 1-2, Becker 0-1, James 0-2, Sims 0-1, Theodorsson 0-2), RI 5-16 (Mbu 2-4, Gray 1-1, Vital 0-2, Debroise 1-4, Harris 1-2, Ojeda 0-2, Agba 0-1). Rebounds – GW 23 (Sims 5), RI 26 (Vital 6). Assists – GW 7 (Sims 2, Loving 2), RI 21 (Vital 7). Turnovers – GW 13 (Sims 4), RI 7 (Gray 2, Harris 2). Blocked shots – GW 2 (James 1, Loving 1), RI 3 (Mbu 2). Steals – GW 3 (Lewis 1, James 1, Sims 1), RI 6 (Vital 3). Attendance – 6,580. 

bkoch@providencejournal.com 

On X: @BillKoch25 

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While shoveling his driveway during yet another winter storm, a man in Providence, Rhode Island found something rather unexpected—a very cold giant lizard. Fortunately, the animal rehabilitation experts at the New England Wildlife Center found that besides being very dehydrated and having frostbite on its tongue and toes, the female tegu named Frankie was doing okay. 

Tegus are large South American reptiles, so how did Frankie end up in the middle of a snowstorm in New England? Tess Gannaway, a veterinarian at the wildlife center who treated Frankie, tells Popular Science that she was probably someone’s pet. 

“Given their size they often roam folk’s homes like dogs or cats and there is a chance that in warmer months Frankie escaped and was surviving on her own outside until the weather got too cold for her to manage,” Gannaway explains. There’s also the more unfortunate possibility that the lizard was recently abandoned.

Either way, Frankie was likely unable to pull her tongue back into her mouth at the start of the storm, which caused the frostbite on both her tongue and her toes. The tongue frostbite is particularly notable because known cases of animals with mucus membrane related frostbite are exceedingly unusual. Because of the frostbite, Frankie no longer has the iconic reptilian V-shape in her tongue. 

In fact, veterinary medicine as a whole didn’t have any published accounts of such an affliction. As such, Gannaway and her veterinary student turned to human medical literature to decide on Frankie’s best treatment option, and ultimately identified what they were looking for. 

This “is really cool and an example of something in veterinary medicine and other fields we call one health, so the intersection between human and animal health,” Gannaway explained in a New England Wildlife Center video. 

In the human report, a portion of a patient’s tongue had unintentionally frozen because of a medical intervention in the mouth. Doctors then removed the dead external tissue a number of times, healing the injury within three weeks. 

Similarly, the team at the New England Wildlife Center aims to remove part of Frankie’s dead tongue tissue every two or three weeks. Hopefully, the tongue will heal on its own, but the good news is that tongues are rapid healers. 

Gannaway says that the team is “cautiously optimistic” about Frankie’s future. 

“She did great during her first debridement [the tissue removal] and has moved on from liquid to solid food. New England Wildlife Centers’ Veterinarians will keep checking her tongue every 2 weeks to see if she needs further sedation to remove more superficial tissue,” she adds.“Until then she is on pain medications and an antibiotic. Tegus can live normal lives with only part of their tongue so as long as we can get her tongue to stabilize she should be ready to live a warmer although slightly less adventurous life.” 

 

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