AMHERST, Mass. - UMass jumped out to a 23-5 run and held Rhode Island to 0-for-11 shooting in the first 11 minutes of Thursday night's game cruising to a convincing 77-55 win in front of a rowdy 8,358 at the Mullins Center on the first annual Black Out Night. The Minutemen now take over first place in the Atlantic 10 and at 17-6 overall (7-2 A-10) have their most wins in a season since the 1999-00 campaign. Senior Stephane Lasme (Libreville, Gabon) had his third triple-double of the season which makes him the eighth player in NCAA history to accomplish three-or-more in one season.

Lasme finished the game with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 11 blocked shots. Earlier this season, he broke Marcus Camby's school record for blocked shots and with his effort tonight needs just nine more to set the single-season mark. Lasme now has 351 for his career and 120 for the season which ties him for the national lead.

Rhode Island (14-10, 7-3 A-10) started slowly missing their first 11 shots of the game as UMass took a 41-27 lead into intermission. The Rams did not hit a field goal until the 11 minutes and nine seconds into the game when Jimmy Baron cut backdoor off a screen for an uncontested lay-up to cut UMass' lead to 23-7.

The second half saw more of the same cold shooting for the Rams who finished the game hitting just 17-of-64 field goal attempts. Normally one of the better three-point shooting teams in the league, UMass played tight perimeter defense holding Rhode Island to just 1-of-13 from beyond the arc.

UMass, meanwhile, hit 30 of its 63 attempts and outrebounded the Rams 50-to-39 for the game.

Gary Forbes (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored 22 points which was a season-high and one shy of tying his career-best of 23 points which he scored at North Carolina when he played at Virgina.

Behind Forbes and Lasme, UMass outscored Rhode Island 48-to-20 in the paint.

Chris Lowe (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) had a well rounded game at the point for UMass scoring six points, handing out six assists, and pulling in eight rebounds.

Rhode Island was led by Baron's 17 point effort and 10 points from Joe Mbang. Baron was the only Ram to shoot 50 percent from the floor on the night as he hit 7-of-14 shots. Mbang led the team in rebounding with 10 boards.

UMass returns to action this Sunday when the Minutemen head to Philadelphia to face Temple. Gametime is set for 2 p.m.