How it Happened Rhode Island battled back from a 15-point second-half deficit to force overtime, but a layup at the buzzer of overtime fell off the rim as the Rams fell at Massachusetts, 80-78, Wednesday night. A choppy first half saw Rhode Island (6-7, 3-3 Atlantic 10) fall behind by as many nine points. UMass (4-3, 3-1 A-10) opened the game hitting 14-of-26 (53.9 percent), scoring 24 points in the paint, despite Tre Mitchell being limited to seven points in 12 minutes due to foul trouble. After Carl Pierre hit a layup to put the Minutemen up 34-25. Rhode Island put together a 6-0 spurt to get back within three points as