KINGSTON, R.I. – Freshman guard Tyrone Conley (Burlington, Vt.) scored a career-high 22 points, and senior forward Mike Christensen (Reston, Va.) and junior guard Tyrece Gibbs (Brockton, Mass.) both scored in double figures, but it was not enough to overcome the hot shooting of the University of Rhode Island and its five double-digit scorers, as the University of New Hampshire men’s basketball team fell, 87-76, Saturday afternoon at the Ryan Center.

Mike Christensen

The loss evens UNH’s record at 3-3, while the Rams improve to 8-1.

Christensen posted 18 points and added five rebounds and four assists, while Gibbs netted 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first five points of the game and then using a 10-4 run to craft the biggest lead they would have in the game at 18-7 with 15:02 remaining in the first half.

The Rams cooled off the hot shooting of the Wildcats, and caught some fire of their own, scoring 15 unanswered points as part of a 34-6 run that gave them a 41-24 lead with 4:29 left in the half.

The ‘Cats, who went into the locker room down 49-28, turned the ball over 13 times in the first half, as compared to only four giveaways in the second stanza.

The Rams, who outshot UNH 55 percent (30-55) to 43 percent (28-66) from the floor, grabbed their largest lead at 62-38 with 13:35 remaining in the game, but the Wildcats slowly began to chip away when they scored seven straight points.

Led by the hot shooting of Christensen, who was 6-for-6 from the floor in the second half, including 3-for-3 from behind the arc, the Wildcats climbed back into the game. The ‘Cats got as close as 83-73 with 2:29 left, but it was too little, too late, as the clock ran out on UNH, who outscored URI, 48-38 in the second half.

Junior guard Eric Gilchrese (Springfield, Ill.) added a career-high seven assists in the loss.

The Rams were led by Joe Mbang, Will Daniels, Kahiem Seawright, Parfait Bitee and Jimmy Baron, who had 23, 14, 13, 13, and 12 points, respectively. Seawright recorded a double-double by pulling down 10 boards, while Daniels recorded eight rebounds and Bitee tallied seven assists.

UNH, which only got to the free throw line 10 times in the entire game, did manage to shoot 52 percent from 3-point land (14-27).

The Wildcats return to action Monday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. when they host Northeastern University at Lundholm Gymnasium.