Big First Half Propels Rhode Island Past Men’s Hoops 94-75

Team	1	2	F
Massachusetts	25	50	75
Rhode Island	54	40	94

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

KINGSTON, R.I. – A big first half run propelled Rhode Island to a 94-75 win over the UMass men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon at the Ryan Center in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Minutemen will enter the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

UMass (11-20, 4-14 A-10) was led by Carl Pierre's 21-point performance highlighted by four three pointers for his sixth 20-point effort of the season. Keon Clergeot added 16 points on the strength of four three-pointers. Luwane Pipkins notched 10 points.

Rhode Island was led by 27 points from Fatts Russell and 21 points, 10 rebounds from Cyril Langevine who hit 10-of-11 from the floor. Jeff Downtin posted 17 points, while Ryan Preston added 12 points to round out the top scorers.

The Rams (16-14, 9-9 A-10) led 54-25 at halftime after using a 22-to-5 run in the first half to open up the big lead. Rhode Island hit 24-of-31 field goal attempts and converted 14 UMass turnovers into 22 points.

The Minutemen battled back in the second half putting together a 19-to-6 run early capped by a three-pointer from Clergeot to cut the Rams lead to 64-44 with 12:05 to go. UMass cut the lead to 16 points on a Pierre three-pointer at the 6:56 mark, but that proved the closest the Minutemen could come during the balance of the game.

For the game, Rhode Island hit 39-of-57 field goals (68.4 percent), while UMass was 28-of-56 (50 percent). The Rams gained a big edge overall in scoring 29 points off 17 Minutemen turnovers despite UMass limiting its miscues to just three in the second half.

Scoreboard