Rhode Island at UMass: Rams Take Care of Business For Fourth Straight Win

Rhode Island basketball picked up their first win at the Mullins Center in the Dan Hurley era tonight as they downed UMass 70-62.

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The URI Rams are at the point of the season where they’ll take wins any way they can get them. And tonight, Rhody will gladly take their first win over UMass at the Mullins Center since 2009. Rhode Island didn’t play their best basketball of the season, but they did enough work to notch their fourth-straight win — and fourth road win overall — in A-10 play. The Rams now sit at 16-7 (8-3) on the season.

For as weird as this game was, URI never trailed. Rhody used their trademark tough D in the opening half — on everyone named Donte Clark, at least. The UMass junior dropped 19 points in the first 20 minutes, but the Rams still managed to take a six point lead (33-27) into the locker room.

The second half saw much of the same lockdown as Rhode Island held the Minutemen offense in check all night. UMass shot just 35.3 percent from the field and 17.6 percent from deep as the Rams forced 19 turnovers (thanks, in part, to 12 steals). Thanks to the ‘D’, Rhody was able quickly open up a double-digit lead in the second frame and they never looked back. Things got a little nerve-racking in the final minutes, but URI was able to drill some big free throws to seal the win.

Jared Terrell led the way for the Rams with a team-high 14 points. E.C. Matthews added a dozen and Nicola Akele picked up 12 of his own in his best game of the season so far. It was a balanced offensive attack tonight as nine different URI players found the score book.

In the end, it was a workmanlike performance for Dan Hurley and Co. Which is all Rhode Island basketball is looking for at this point. We’ll have more on this one coming up tomorrow.