PSU Men's Basketball falls to RIC

The PSU Men's basketball team lost to Rhode Island College by a score of 84-65 in their regular season finale on Saturday, February 20 at The Murray Center in Rhode Island.The loss ended PSU's three game winning streak heading into the Little East Tournament and extended RIC's winning streak to a season-long five games. RIC seems to be peaking at the right time as they have won nine of their last eleven games.RIC ended the regular season at the top of the LEC as they finished the year with an overall record of 18-7 and an LEC record of 12-2. PSU on the other hand, finished fifth in the LEC with an overall record of 16-9 and an LEC record of 8-6.RIC sophomore swingman Mason Choice led all scorers on the day with 19 points, while junior guard Nick Manson scored 12 points and senior guard Jake Grimes added nine points. PSU was led by senior guard Jason O' Keefe who scored 14 points, while sophomore guard Brian Chergey shot 4-6 from the field and added 12 points. Junior guard Ryan Lambert also had a stellar day as he posted seven points and grabbed six rebounds.RIC came out on fire in the early goings of the game and doubled up PSU in the first half by a score of 44-22. RIC shot lights out in the first half as they shot 58% from the field while holding PSU to a measly 21%. Although PSU had a rough first half, they would regroup at halftime and eventually outscored RIC in the second half by a score of 43-40 while shooting 51% from the field in the second half.After the game, PSU head coach was short on words as he was not pleased with the outcome of the game. "We did not compete at the level necessary to beat RIC," Shienman said. PSU will now move on to the LEC Tournament where they will take on fourth seeded UMass Dartmouth on the road on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:00pm. If PSU ends up beating UMD, they will have to play RIC for the third time this season. RIC will receive a bye in the first round of the LEC Tournament since they are the one seed; and aforementioned, will take on the winner of the PSU-UMD game.PSU has played UMD twice earlier this season with mixed results. On December 5, PSU played UMD at home at Foley Gymnasium and only lost by four points in a game that could have went either way. But on January 23, PSU travelled to UMD and lost by a score of 86-70.