Rhode Island Wins Opener

Lamar Odom, a 6-foot-11 sophomore playing in his first college game, made the game-winning shot with 5.4 seconds left and came within an assist of a triple double Monday night as No. 23 Rhode Island beat No. 25 Texas Christian, 87-85, in the inaugural CoSIDA Classic at Providence, R.I.

Odom, who attended Rhode Island last year as a non-matriculating student, showed his versatility, becoming the team’s principal ball-handler when starting point guard Preston Murphy went down with an ankle injury late in the first half.

Odom finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists and gave Rhode Island fans a glimpse that the wait for one of the nation’s premier high school players two years ago was worth it.

TCU’s Lee Nailon, the nation’s leading returning scorer, had 16 points, all but two in the second half when the Horned Frogs erased a 10-point halftime deficit by hitting nine of 12 three-point shots.

In the second game of the CoSida Classic, Greg LaPointe scored 16 points to lead Vanderbilt, which didn’t have a field goal over the final 4 1/2 minutes, to a 72-66 victory over Providence.

The loss spoiled Tim Welsh’s first game as coach of the Friars. Welsh, who was at Iona the last three seasons, replaced Pete Gillen, who went to Virginia.