How It Happened
Rhode Island (5-2) and UNC Asheville (1-5) were locked up at 15-15 midway through the first half before an 8-4 push gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the frame (23-19) with seven minutes left to play. Asheville remained on top until a pair of free throws by Biggie Minnis put URI ahead by one (32-31). Andrew Rowsey responded with a pair of makes from the line for the Bulldogs, but Ifeanyi Onyekaba connected on a foul shot in the final minute to send the teams into halftime knotted up at 33 apiece.

Rhode Island was hot out of the locker room, holding UNC Asheville to just four points while scoring 12 of their own over the first five minutes of play. Before the break, the Bulldogs shot 50-percent (10-20) from the field but were held to a 39.1-percent (9-23) showing in the second period. The Rams pushed their lead to 11 (53-42) with 10:46 left to play and remained in front by nine or more the rest of the way, cruising to the 73-56 victory.

Inside the Box Score

• Xavier Munford netted 14 points for the Rams. He has now scored in double figures in six of Rhody's seven games this season. Additionally, the senior guard has now put up double digits in 31 of his 36 games as a Ram.
• Munford also pulled down a game-high and career-best seven rebounds as Rhode Island held a 37-21 advantage on the glass.
• Biggie Minnis finished with a career-high 14 points. It was his first time in double figures as a Ram, and the fourth time of his career as he previously recorded 10 and 12 in a pair of games for Texas Tech.
• Gilvydas Biruta rounded out Rhode Island's double-digit scorers with 13 points on the night - 11 of which came in the second half. It was his best scoring performance since Feb. 25, 2012 when he registered 16 points for Rutgers in a game at Seton Hall.
• Defensively, Rhody held the Bulldogs to just 23 points in the second half, matching their best defensive period of the season. URI also limited UMass Lowell to 23 in the first half and held Metro State to 23 in the second half.
• The game featured seven lead changes and nine ties. 
• More than half of Rhode Island's points were scored in the paint (38 of 73). 
• Only four different players scored for the Bulldogs in the first half. URI, meanwhile, had eight different players contribute to its first-half scoring.
• URI's bench outscored Asheville's by an 18-0 margin in the first half and 29-10 overall.
• Andrew Rowsey and Jaron Lane each registered a game-high 17 points for the Bulldogs.

Quotable
Head coach Dan Hurley:  I don't know when we got our fifth win last year. We've shown growth and feel pretty good about getting our fifth win this early in November
 
We'd like to play fast. We have so many more weapons on the perimeter...as a player, I always wanted my coach to tell me to attack so you hope our players embrace that and I think they have.
 
I thought Gil was more comfortable. We just had a lot of guys who played well together.  Gil's just got to play. He's got to shoot when he feels like he can shoot. He's got to be who he is. Get excited, get angry.

We think we have a chance to be a good team this year, it's just not going to happen as quickly as maybe we'd like.

Biggie Minnis: Coach just kept telling me to play mad. I'm starting to get more comfortable. I've just got to play aggressive and protect the lane.  Taking a year out to work on my jump shot and work on my dribbling really helped out a lot.

What's Next
The Rams return to action on Tuesday night when they host McNeese State (2-4) in the final game of the NIT Season Tipoff. The game will not be televised, but as always, fans can tune in to 101.5 FM for the live call with Steve McDonald and Don Kaull.