Delroy James scores 18, Rhode Island beats Virginia Tech 79-72 to reach NIT semifinals

Rhode Island beats VaTech, advances to NIT semis

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Delroy James scored 18 points and Lamonte Ulmer added 13, including a big basket in the final seconds, to lead Rhode Island past Virginia Tech 79-72 in an NIT quarterfinal Wednesday night.

The second-seeded Rams (26-9) advanced to the NIT semifinals for the first time since 1946. They’ll play defending national champion North Carolina on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Rhode Island took the lead for good at 73-71 on a jumper by Keith Cothran with 2 minutes left. No. 1 seed Virginia Tech (25-9) had a chance to tie, but James got a piece of JT Thompson’s layup attempt with 46 seconds to go and grabbed the rebound.

The Rams then spread the court, and with the shot clock running down, Ulmer rebounded his own miss and laid it in with 10.6 seconds remaining.