AMHERST – Noah Fernandes sensed the gravity of the moment.

After opening Atlantic 10 play with a frustrating loss at Saint Bonaventure over the weekend, the UMass men’s basketball team welcomed Saint Louis, picked second in the preseason conference poll, to the Mullins Center Wednesday.

“I thought it’d be really bad to come out and lose this game, especially at home,” Fernandes said. “As a group, we just wanted to have each other's back. I don't really care about personal matchups, I just try and go at whoever's in front of me.”

Saint Louis guard Yuri Collins couldn’t stay in front of Fernandes for most of the night. The senior from Mattapoisett scored a season-high 26 points with seven assists, and the Minutemen beat Saint Louis 90-81 in its A-10 home opener.

“I just want to win and compete and try and try and go at whoever's over there,” Fernandes said. “If it's Allen Iverson on the other side, I’mma go at him.”

Fernandes splashed a 3 with 3 minutes, 17 seconds left that stuck a dagger in the Billikens (9-6, 1-1 A-10) then turned and barked at his own bench. He received a technical for directing the same at the opposition last game.

“There’s a big difference with our team when Noah’s on the court and when he's not on the court,” UMass coach Frank Martin said. “Monday morning he came in and we're just sitting there talking, and I told him, ‘my biggest surprise now that I'm coaching you is that you're pretty darn good defensively on the ball.’ If you would have asked me before I started coaching him what I worried about with him I would have said that. He's a pretty good on-ball defender. He's smart.”

Three UMass (10-4, 1-1) players hit double figures. RJ Luis (five rebounds) and Isaac Kante each scored 11 for the Minutemen, which hit 46.2 percent of their field goals and 10-of-21 3-pointers. Freshman forward Tafara Gapare added five blocks and two steals to go along with five rebounds and eight points.

“You beat a team like Saint Louis, you must have done a lot of things the right way,” Martin said. “I’m really, really happy for our team, our players, real proud of them of how they came in for business after the St. Bonaventure game. We trusted in who we’re fighting to become.”

Saint Louis fought back early. UMass trailed 23-21 after a Jake Forrester layup with 8:42 to halftime in a back and forth first half. The Minutemen then ripped off a 15-2 run. T.J. Weeks Jr. splashed a 3 to restore UMass’ lead 24-23 at 8:28. 

Luis blocked a Jake Forrester dunk at the rim then hit a 3 on UMass’ next offensive possession to go up 29-23 a little over a minute later. He scored six of his 11 points in the spurt. 

“It's just reps really. I made a defensive play at the rim, and I ran down the floor and one of my teammates got me open on the wing and I just took the shot,” Luis said. “Guys get fired up when we play defense. And then that turns into offense.”

The Minutemen held Saint Louis to 1-of-8 in the stretch and forced four turnovers, building a 36-25 lead.

The Minutemen stretched the lead to 11 at halftime 40-29, but Sincere Parker cut the Billikens’ deficit to 1 when he it a 3 to make it 46-45 with 14:34 left. Gapare responded with a 3 to restore UMass’ two-possession advantage. Gapare then rejected Terrance Hargrove at the rim on a fast break, grabbed the rebound and dribbled up the court. He hit Luis in the corner with a pocket pass, and Luis buried a 3 for a 52-45 advantage with 13:24 on the clock.

“Tafara’s a freak athlete, just his ability to jump that high being 6-11,” Luis said. “He covers the whole rim, so it's fun playing with him out there.”

Collins picked up his fourth foul with 8:35 and put the Billikens in the bonus. That sent Fernandes to the line, and he made both to give the Minutemen a 66-59 lead. Collins stayed on the bench until the 4:50 mark, and UMass outscored Saint Louis 16-8 to take an 80-67 lead, its largest of the game. The Billikens point guard finished with 16 points and 10 assists, but the Minutemen kept the visitors at arm’s length to secure the win.

“Defensively we’re all locked in. We're on a string,” Fernandes said. “That's the biggest piece of our identity. When we stick to that, and we grind games out, most of the time we win those games.”

Next up is a road game at George Washington on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>