Rhode Island

This was not the kind of history Rhode Island men’s basketball was looking to make

Published

6 months ago

December 22, 2023

This was not the kind of history Rhode Island men’s basketball was looking to make

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — There’s not much precedent for what took place Thursday night at the Ryan Center.

New Hampshire had counted just three men’s basketball road victories against the University of Rhode Island since the series began in March 1906. Two of those occurred prior to the start of World War II.

The Rams made the wrong kind of history while dropping their fifth straight, and they’re now staring at a sub-.500 finish in nonconference play after winning five of their first seven. The Wildcats never trailed in the second half while locking up an 81-71 victory.

More: Here’s how Providence basketball opened its Big East season in style vs. No. 6 Marquette

Clarence Daniels was the best player on the floor over the course of 40 minutes, and his teammates followed the left-hander’s lead. He pumped in a game-high 27 points and helped spark a perimeter attack that closed 13-for-24 from 3-point range. New Hampshire outscored URI by 24 points from beyond the arc, the widest difference on a stat sheet that ultimately tipped this one for the visitors.

More: Rhode Island still winless on the road. Here’s what happened vs. Delaware on Long Island.

“I apologize to our fans,” URI coach Archie Miller said. “I apologize to everybody who’s important in our program.

“We’ve lost a few games — I get it. We’re just not operating with the fight, the toughness, the commitment level, the belief that we need. Meshing this group in the nonconference has been difficult.

“I also feel like we’re a much better team than we’ve played. We’ve lost some games to teams who have more experience or more of a veteran crew out there.”

URI connected on a pair of early shots from deep to force the only tie of the second half. Luis Kortright hit a 3-pointer from the right wing and curled along the baseline before finding Cam Estevez in the left corner for another jumper. It was 41-41 with 16:52 to play and the Rams seemed to be building momentum.

The Wildcats spent the majority of the next seven minutes scuttling those hopes. Rory Stewart’s turnover led to a transition Naim Miller 3-pointer on the right wing and forced a URI timeout. Ahmad Robinson stepped back from the left wing for another jumper and it was suddenly 62-49 with 9:39 to play.

“You can see a front-runner a mile away,” Miller said. “When things are going well, everything is going well. The minute things don’t go well, you can get them.”

Zek Montgomery’s layup with 4:38 left made it a 71-65 game, but Daniels responded immediately with a jump hook at the other end. The Rams never came within two possessions again and were on their way to a first home defeat against New Hampshire since December 1973. URI slipped to 56-4 against its old Yankee Conference rival here.

“We’ve sort of hit the wall in terms of confidence,” Miller said. “As a basketball player myself, I never went out there and tried not to play well. Our guys don’t want to not play well. They don’t want to go out and not win.

“They need help. I have to do a better job. Our staff has to do a better job. You can put this all on us.”

The Rams (5-7) were in a quick 9-1 hole when Miller called a timeout after just 2:09. They stabilized from there and eventually built a 20-14 advantage when Estevez found Brandon Weston with a pretty feed for a layup. The Wildcats (8-4) answered with a quick 6-0 burst and were on the way to an average of 1.14 points per possession.

“Our defense is terrible,” Miller said. “Look at the coach. The scheme, combinations of players, what we have to do differently — we’ve gotten hit on everything.”

URI remained shorthanded for this one. Josaphat Bilau (knee) and David Fuchs (concussion protocol) both missed out for the second straight game — it was the third consecutive for Fuchs. David Green (ankle) saw his potential debut delayed after suffering a minor injury in practice earlier this week — he was previously held out after an NCAA waiver application was denied in late November.

“When you canceled [Green’s] season a month ago, he went in a different direction in terms of his process,” Miller said. “He has to work himself back into practice and playing. As he did that, he also tweaked his ankle, but that’s not a big deal.

“David Green is not a part of our conversation right now until it becomes abundantly clear that he’s ready, willing and able. He’s none of them right now.”

It’s the first time the Rams have dropped five straight in nonconference play since the beginning of the 2012-13 season. Dan Hurley started his URI debut 0-5 before an unlikely double-overtime win at Auburn. The Rams have just one final chance to break the cycle in a Dec. 30 home meeting with Northeastern — it’s Atlantic 10 play or bust following that Saturday afternoon.

“I think we’re better than this,” Miller said. “But the confidence level is low. And we’re going to have to find out who can get back up off this mat here.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE (81): Baker 2-7 2-2 8, Daniels 10-20 4-4 27, Woodyard 2-8 0-0 6, Miller 6-12 1-3 17, Robinson 5-11 4-8 15, Moore 3-4 1-2 8, Sunderland 0-0 0-0 0, Opurum 0-3 0-0 0, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Poser 0-0 0-0 0, Gakmar 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-65 12-19 81. RHODE ISLAND (71): Brown 1-1 2-6 4, House 5-16 5-6 16, Kortright 2-6 3-4 8, Montgomery 6-15 5-5 18, Wright 1-4 0-0 2, Estevez 3-9 1-2 9, Foumena 6-8 0-1 12, Weston 1-5 0-0 2, Stewart 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-65 16-24 71.

Halftime_New Hampshire 38-34. 3-Point Goals_New Hampshire 13-24 (Miller 4-7, Daniels 3-5, Baker 2-3, Woodyard 2-4, Moore 1-2, Robinson 1-3), Rhode Island 5-22 (Estevez 2-6, House 1-4, Kortright 1-4, Montgomery 1-5, Stewart 0-1, Wright 0-2). Rebounds_New Hampshire 42 (Daniels 10), Rhode Island 37 (Foumena 10). Assists_New Hampshire 14 (Robinson 6), Rhode Island 12 (Estevez 3). Total Fouls_New Hampshire 19, Rhode Island 16. A_3,300 (7,657).

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On X: @BillKoch25

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Rhode Island

Rhode Island woman accused of multi-state fraud totaling $10 million | ABC6

Published

8 mins ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Rhode Island woman accused of multi-state fraud totaling $10 million | ABC6

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Warwick woman has been charged in a direct-mail sweepstakes scheme that defrauded seniors and other vulnerable individuals in Rhode Island and multiple states out of a total of $10 million.

Megan E. Shine, 47, was indicted by a federal grand jury and arraigned on conspiracy and fraud charges, according to United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Shine allegedly used the U.S. Mail to carry out a fraud scheme using mailings that suggested to recipients that they were entitled to cash prizes or valuable items.

Victims were duped into sending payments, usually between $20 and $30, to businesses Shine created and operated in Rhode Island.

Mailings were personalized with the recipient’s name, along with other markings to bolster apparent authenticity, and instructed the recipient to send money by a deadline to a PO Box in Providence.

An investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed that these mailings were sent to recipients in 41 states.

The conservative estimate of responses and payments received totaled 50,000 per year.

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Rhode Island

Reported power outage in Pawtucket, Central Falls | ABC6

Published

7 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Press Room

Reported power outage in Pawtucket, Central Falls | ABC6

This is a file image of Pawtucket City Hall. (WLNE)

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) — A power outage has been confirmed by Pawtucket officials.

Approximately 7,000 residents in Central Falls and Pawtucket are currently affected.

Officials could not confirm what the cause of the outage was.

ABC 6 will provide updates on the status of the outage.

Pictured are current outages in Pawtucket. (Courtesy of RI Energy)

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Rhode Island

‘No kings in America’: Biden slams U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting Trump immunity • Rhode Island Current

Published

14 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Press Room

‘No kings in America’: Biden slams U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting Trump immunity • Rhode Island Current

Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision granting the presumption of criminal immunity for official actions taken by a president fundamentally altered U.S. democracy, President Joe Biden said from the White House Monday evening.

Speaking for less than five minutes, Biden said the 6-3 decision contradicted the spirit of the country’s founding — set to be celebrated nationwide this week on the Fourth of July — that no one is above the law.

Presidential immunity extends to some official acts, Supreme Court rules in Trump case

“This nation was founded on the principle that there are no kings in America,” Biden said. “Each of us is equal before the law. No one — no one — is above the law, not even the president of the United States.”

The immunity decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts for the court’s conservative majority, undermined that principle, Biden said.

Biden added that the decision would almost certainly mean a jury would not decide the criminal case accusing former President Donald Trump of conspiring to illegally overturn his 2020 loss before November’s election, which Biden called a “disservice to the American people.”

Roberts opinion

The ruling tasked a federal trial court with determining which actions then-President Trump took seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election were conducted as “official” acts of the president. Those actions are entitled to “the presumption of immunity,” Roberts wrote.

The ruling protected the power of an office that itself makes up an entire branch of government, Roberts said, and was consistent with the constitutional framers’ view that the president has broad powers and responsibilities.

“Accounting for that reality — and ensuring that the President may exercise those powers forcefully, as the Framers anticipated he would — does not place him above the law,” Roberts wrote. “It preserves the basic structure of the Constitution.”

But Biden called the decision “a dangerous precedent” that would give presidents nearly unrestrained power.

“The power of the president will no longer be constrained by the law, even by the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said. “The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone.”

Biden invoked the example of George Washington, who he said restrained the power of the presidency, and pledged he would continue to “respect the limits of the presidential powers.”

But, he said, the ruling empowered future presidents, possibly including Trump, to ignore the law.

Jan. 6 attack

Biden said Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that disrupted the certification of Biden’s defeat of Trump in the 2020 election. Trump’s efforts to undermine the election results, culminating in the Jan. 6 attack, are the subject of the federal indictment the former president challenged by asserting presidential immunity.

“Four years ago, my predecessor sent a violent mob to the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power,” Biden said. “We all saw with our own eyes. We saw what happened that day … I think it’s fair to say it’s one of the darkest days in U.S. history. Now, the man who sent that mob to the U.S. Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction.”

Biden, whose reelection campaign was still reeling Monday from a debate performance against Trump last week described even by Democrats as poor, called on voters to “do what the court should have been willing to do but would not,” and reject Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, at the ballot box.

The president endorsed Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s forceful dissent in the case, quoting her phrase that the majority opinion fueled “fear for our democracy” and urging voters, too, to dissent.

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