Massachusetts Knocks Off Rhode Island On The Road, 75-63

KINGSTON, R.I. – With the game tied at 53 with 9:54 to play, the Massachusetts men's basketball team (7-4, 6-2) used runs of 9-2 and 10-0 down the stretch to take command of the game and earn a hard-fought victory on the road at rival Rhode Island, 75-63, securing its best start to conference play since the 2006-07 season and first regular season sweep of Rhode Island since 2013-14.

"What a win and a gutsy performance," said head coach Matt McCall. "You have to give our players a tremendous amount of credit. There was a lot of adversity in the game, and they didn't flinch for a second. They battled and found a way to get a huge win from top to bottom. It was a total team win on the road against a very talented team. I'm proud of our guys."

Captain Carl Pierre led the way for the Minutemen with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, five rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers in 36 minutes of action. Pierre was also 5-of-10 from deep to move into sole possession of second on UMass' all-time three-point field goals list (278).

Pierre led four Minutemen in double-figures, joined by Cairo McCrory with his first career double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds), Mark Gasperini (11 points, five rebounds, four assists) and Ronnie DeGray III (11 points, six rebounds).

UMass, which hit eight of its final 17 shots, finished the night 31-of-69 from the floor and 9-of-24 from beyond the arc. On the defensive end the Minutemen held Rhode Island without a bucket for the final 5:12 and without a three-point field goal in the game, the first time that's happened since Nov. 23, 2014 against Florida State.

Rhode Island was paced by 26 points and 14 rebounds from Antwan Walker, while Mahkel Mitchell added 13 points for a Rams squad that shot 41% overall on the night.

It was an up-tempo opening 20 minutes with four ties and seven lead changes before a 10-4 run to close the half gave Massachusetts a five-point lead at the break, 37-32.

It was back-and-forth in the early going with neither squad leading by more than three points through the first 17 minutes, with the Minutemen shooting 44% from the floor (16-of-36) and starting to connect from deep as the half wore on. Pierre led the way with 10 points, including 2-of-4 from three, while DeGray III added nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and McCrory with seven with a hot end to the half.

URI meanwhile, received 14 points (7-of-9 shooting) and six boards from Walker in just nine minutes of action to lead a Rams squad that shot 43% overall (15-of-35) and recorded 28 of its 32 first half points in the paint.

Rhode Island used a 12-2 run to kickstart the second half, erasing the deficit and leading by as many as four points with 14:25 to play, highlighted by a monster dunk from Walker.

That set the table, though, for UMass' 7-0, 9-2 and 10-0 down the stretch to retake the lead with 13:06 left and never look back.

The Minutemen will be back in action on Tuesday when UMass hosts Dayton on ESPNU at 7 p.m.

Scoreboard

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Team Stats

Carl Pierre

Cairo McCrory

Mark Gasperini

Ronnie DeGray III

Players Mentioned

Ronnie DeGray III

Mark Gasperini

Cairo McCrory

Carl Pierre

Players Mentioned

Ronnie DeGray III

Mark Gasperini

Cairo McCrory

Carl Pierre

Scoreboard

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