Rhode Island tops BC for second time in 4 days

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- — Antwan Walker scored 15 points in a perfect shooting game and Rhode Island defeated Boston College 71-65 in the Sunshine Slam on Sunday night.

The Rams (4-1) beat the visiting Eagles (3-3) 57-49 four days earlier in Rhode Island. It is the second time BC met a regular-season opponent in an in-season tournament. In December of 2001 they played Holy Cross at home and five days later they met again in Honolulu.

Jeremy Sheppard also had 15 points for Rhode Island and Ishmael El-Amin and Malik Martin had 10 apiece.

The Rams were 11 of 21 from 3-point range — Sheppard, El-Amin and Martin were all 3 of 6 — and shot 51% (22 of 43) overall. They also went 16 of 19 from the foul line. Walker made all five of his field goals, two of them behind the arc, and three free throws.

Jaeden Zackery paced the Eagles with 19 points. James Karnik added 15 with 13 rebounds. Makai Ashton-Langford scored 12 and DeMarr Langford Jr. 11.

Martin hit a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-0 run that put Rhode Island up 31-18 and it was 34-24 at the half.

The Rams got the lead to 15 with a 7-0 surge less than six minutes into the second half but Karnik and Zachery combined for an 8-0 run and that became a 14-2 surge to cut the deficit to 46-43 with 9:21 to play.

BC never got closer after El-Amin followed with a 3-pointer. Sheppard scored seven points in the final 63 seconds to ice the win.

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