By Andrew Parente

Despite holding a three-point lead at the half, the men’s basketball team was unable to finish off Rhode Island and dropped an 85-72 decision to the Rams last night at Matthews Arena.

The loss is the third in a row for the Huskies, dropping them to 3-4 on the season. URI improves to 6-2 and has won five of their last six games; they have also now defeated NU in 12 straight contests.

“I think tonight we just let the tempo of the game get away from us,” said head coach Bill Coen. “We knew going in that if Rhode Island scored their average or higher tonight, it was going to be tough for us to win.”

URI was strong from the get-go as it led for the better part of the first half. A three from forward Ben Eaves gave the Rams their biggest lead of the half, 34-19, with just under six minutes to play.

But the Huskies were able to fight back and went on a run of their own to close out the half.

Five points from junior forward Eugene Spates, along with two each from junior guard Matt Janning and sophomore forward Vinny Lima, cut the lead to six.

The teams then exchanged baskets before NU was able to get back into the game and eventually take the lead.

Four straight points from Lima and a jumper by Janning tied the game up at 39 with just over a minute to go in the half.

The Husky defense forced a missed shot on the next possession before junior forward Manny Adako gave the Huskies a two-point lead off a lay-up, during which he was fouled. Adako went to the line and was able to complete the three-point play. Janning missed a tough shot at the buzzer and NU held the lead at the half 42-39.

“We just started to play our game,” Lima said. “We started to execute on the offensive end, making our cuts and our passes. On the defensive end we got our rebounds and that really got us going.”

The lead was short lived as the Rams picked up their effort on offense going into the second half.

URI opened the half with 16 straight points to take a 55-42 lead with 15:25 left in the game. A jumper from junior center Nkem Ojouboh ended the Rams run and the teams went back and forth for a short time before the Huskies got the Rams lead down to 10.

However, URI shot an outstanding 68 percent from the floor in the second half and was able to pull away.

“They’re a terrific shooting basketball team,” Coen said. “They have a great inside-outside combo and they did a great job playing off of Kahiem Seawright [19 points] in the post and he did a good job of settling them down.”

Lima finished the game with 14 points, a career high. Adako and Ojougboh were also in double-digits for NU, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

After scoring only three points against South Florida, Janning finished with eight against URI.

Northeastern will now begin conference play when it travels to Virginia to take on James Madison Saturday at 11 a.m.

“Conference games are important and this is a big one,” Janning said. “The intensity is going to be there, James Madison is always tough so we have to come ready to play.”

The Huskies will return to New England to continue their out of conference schedule and battle Harvard in Cambridge on Wednesday, Dec. 10.