The University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team continued its road woes this week, extending its season-high losing streak to four games with losses to the University of Massachusetts and Saint Joseph’s University.
Saturday marked the last time the Rams and Minutemen will face off in the regular season as Atlantic 10 Conference foes, with UMass set to join the Mid-American Conference at the start of the next academic year.
“[This rivalry] is one of the reasons I took the job,” UMass Head Coach Frank Martin said. “Those A-10 rivalries I used to watch in the 90s with Rhody and UMass and Temple [University], [they’re] just fierce games.”
URI put up a season-high 56 points in the first half, led by fourth-year David Green’s 18 points, as he made all seven shots from the field and all four from three. Third-year Jamarques Lawrence also dropped double-digit points in the first half with 15. The Rams led by 12 with two seconds left in the first half, the largest lead by either team in the game.
UMass joined the offensive battle with 47 points, the second-most first half points by a URI opponent this season. Second-year Jaylen Curry dropped 14 points, and fourth-year Rahsool Diggins scored 12.
The teams traded blows for the first eight minutes of the second half as the Rams took a 77-66 lead on a three from second-year Cam Estevez.
UMass then immediately went on a 14-0 run over four minutes to take its first lead since 8:55 left in the first half.
Rhody was able to tie the game at 85 with less than three minutes left off a Green three-pointer. The three was Green’s 30th point and eighth three, both career highs, and put him one made three shy of the program record.
After a two-minute scoring drought by both teams, Diggins hit a jumper with 53 seconds left to give UMass a lead it would never relinquish. After Diggins hit four straight free throws to give the Minutemen a six-point lead, Lawrence hit a three with two seconds left to give URI 16 made threes on the day. That tied the program record that was first set on Jan. 3, 2017 against St. Joe’s.
Diggins, Curry and third-year Daniel Hankins-Sanford combined for 70 of UMass’s 91 points. Green led all players in scoring with 30 and all Rams in rebounds with 10, giving him his second straight double-double and fourth of the season.
On Wednesday, the Rams traveled to Philadelphia to face St. Joe’s, where they allowed 91 points for the second straight game and 80+ points for the fourth straight game.
The Hawks had four players score 15+ points, with fourth-year Erik Reynolds II as the leading scorer with 22 points. Reynolds II passed Jameer Nelson as the all-time leading scorer in St. Joe’s history. Third-year Rasheer Flemming finished with 19 points, and second-years Aaron Finkley and Xzayvier Brown finished with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
URI had five double-digit scorers, but none scored above 15, with fourth-year Sebastian Thomas leading the Rams with 15. Green and fourth-year Jaden House dropped 13 points and 10 points, respectively. Fifth-year Javonte Brown and Estevez both scored 11 points.
The Rams led by nine points with eight minutes left in the first half, but lost the lead going into halftime. The Hawks went on an 18-4 run over the first five minutes of the second half to take a 15-point lead, and the deficit was insurmountable for the Rams.
The loss dropped the Rams’ road record to 1-9 this year and 5-27 since head coach Archie Miller’s hire. The loss also kept URI at 17 conference wins since Miller’s hire in 2022, which is tied for the lowest in the A-10 with La Salle University.
The Rams will head back to the Ryan Center to take on Fordham University in a rematch from Feb. 5, where Fordham beat URI on a last-second putback from fifth-year Matt Zona. The game will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m., with a stream on ESPN+ and radio broadcasts available on WRIU and The Varsity Network.
