How It Happened
Rhode Island held a nine-point lead with 9:51 remaining, but Massachusetts held the Rams to one field goal the rest of the way and avoided the upset, beating Rhody 65-61 in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship on Thursday.

Rhode Island (14-18) led throughout until a Trey Davis layup with 3:08 remaining gave the Minutemen (24-7) their first lead of the second half. Rhody went 9:49 without a field goal down the stretch, at one point going 15 consecutive possessions without a point. The drought allowed No. 6 UMass to finish the game on a 19-6 run and escape with the victory.

The loss ends the Rams season, while Massachusetts advances to the A-10 quarterfinals, where it will face No. 3 seed George Washington on Friday.

Inside the Box Score

• Senior Xavier Munford finished with 24 points, marking the 21st 20-point game of his Rhode Island career. Munford carried the Rams in the first half, scoring 18 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
• Gilvydas Biruta had 10 points and eight rebounds, despite playing the entire night with foul trouble.
• Foul trouble forced the Rams to play a very small lineup for several minutes in the first half. Guards T.J. Buchanan, E.C. Matthews, Xavier Munford and Biggie Minnis all were on the floor together with freshman forward Hassan Martin at the five spot.
• Five players - Ifeanyi Onyekaba, Jarelle Reischel, Gilvydas Biruta, T.J. Buchanan and E.C. Matthews - picked up two fouls in the first half. Onyekaba had three fouls before the break. Despite five players getting called for four fouls, only Matthews fouled out for the Rams.
• The disparity in fouls led to a huge advantage at the free throw line. The Minutemen were 28-of-36 at the line, while Rhode Island was just 11-for-23.
• Freshman Hassan Martin continued his season-long block party. After setting a URI freshman record with 75 blocks during the regular season, Martin blocked five more against the Minutemen.
• Martin also had eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.
• Biggie Minnis gave the Rams key minutes off the bench in the first half. Minnis made his only shot and had one rebound, one steal and one assist in seven minutes.
• Rhode Island shot 60.9 percent from the floor in the first half, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. The Rams finished the game shooting 46 percent from the floor and were 1-for-7 from long range in the second half.
• Rhode Island committed 17 turnovers on the night.
• The Rams did hold Massachusetts to 31.5 percent shooting from the floor. The Minutemen started the game just 3-of-15 on field goal attempts.
• The Rams had been 8-3 when leading at the half this season before Thursday, which marked Rhody's sixth straight loss to UMass.
• The six-game improvement from last year's record marks Rhode Island's biggest jump in wins since the Rams went from six wins in 2004-05 to 14 wins in 2005-06.

Stat of the Day
15 – Rhode Island went 15 consecutive possessions without scoring during the second half.