KINGSTON, R.I. - Turnovers were the latest problem as the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team continued its season-long struggles

Saturday afternoon at the University of Rhode Island.

The Rams pressured and trapped the Minutemen throughout and exposed their point guard woes early. Rhode Island turned 21 UMass turnovers into 19 points as the Minutemen fell 93-85 at the Ryan Center.

With sophomore guard David Gibbs likely out for the season with a broken foot, Ricky Harris, Gary Correia and Javorn Farrell all shared the ball-handling chores for UMass, but were overmatched by the Rams' quicker defenders.

The ball-handling struggles were particularly glaring in the first half as the Minutemen had as many turnovers (17) as they did field goal attempts. Ten of those came in the first eight minutes as UMass looked overwhelmed.

"We obviously turned the ball over a few too many times in the first half," Minuteman coach Derek Kellogg said. "We gave a yeoman's effort to come back and make the game interesting.

"If you don't turn the ball over 17 times in the first half or 21 times in the game, you still have a chance to be in the ball game against a very good Rhode Island team," he added.

The Minutemen (8-15, 2-7 Atlantic 10) might have challenged the school record of 38 turnovers in the game, but the Rams (19-3, 7-2 A-10) relaxed their pressure as their lead widened.

"In the first half we did a really good job of turning them over. We really forced the tempo," said Rhode Island coach Jim Baron. "We got lax in the second half."

Kellogg said, "They did a good job making the game hard on us. We made some very young plays. It wasn't one guy. The whole team helped out in the turnover department."

Harris, who finished with a season-high 32 points, agreed.

"Turnovers killed us. They led to easy baskets for them in transition," Harris said. "We had turnovers in the first half that weren't even forced turnovers, just dumb mistakes. We gave them a lot of momentum."

For the second straight game, UMass fell behind by 17 at halftime. And just like in Wednesday's 87-79 loss to Xavier, the Minutemen cut into that deficit in a hurry, shaving off 10 points in the first four minutes after intermission.

But the momentum was short-lived on Saturday. URI scored 10 straight points and was never really threatened again until late.

Baron emptied his bench a little early as Anthony Gurley, who was scoreless for the first 36 minutes of the game, mounted his own little uprising for UMass. He scored 15 points - including four 3-pointers - in the last 3 minutes, 17 seconds as the Minutemen scrambled to cut a 24-point deficit to six with 16 seconds left. But the Rams made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on.

"He made a few plays in the first half that were very unlike Anthony and I felt like maybe giving him a little time on the bench would get him going," Kellogg said. "He came back and played very well.

"We can't have him not play the way he played at the end for a whole game," Kellogg added. "We don't have enough firepower."

Sean Carter had 11 points and eight rebounds for UMass, while Terrell Vinson added 10 points and six boards.

Rhode Island was led by freshman Akeem Richmond with 19 points, including six 3-pointers. Lamonte Ulmer had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Rams, while Delroy James and Will Martell each scored 13 points.

The Minutemen are at Duquesne (12-11, 3-6 A-10) at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/blog/umass-sports.