BOSTON, Mass. – It took a little longer then they wanted to, but once men's basketball was able to shake-off the game-day rust, the Beacons continued their strong play as they took down the Rams of Framingham State University by the final of 60-45 Tuesday evening in the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium.

Tuesday's win marked the fourth straight victory for the Beacons over the Rams, and pushed their overall record to 8-3.  For the Rams they dropped to 5-6 on the year, despite leading at the half 27-21.

Having not played in almost one full month, the Beacons struggled on both sides of the court in the early ongoing.  This allowed the Rams to take the early lead.  From the field, Framingham State was 11-for-29, with four of those baskets coming from behind the arc.  For the Beacons they shot just 26.7% in the opening half, making eight baskets on 30 attempts, two of which came from 3-point range.

After the break, the Beacons came alive and ripped the game right out of the hands of the Rams.  The Beacons outscored Framingham a staggering 39-18 over the final 20 minutes to cruise to the 15 point victory.  UMass seized control of the contest at the 12:36 mark when they went on a 15-0 run to make it 48-33. 

Defensively, UMass converted 12 Framingham State turnovers into 18 points in the second half alone, to help fuel the late surge.  They would finish with 24 points off of 19 Rams turnovers, and also had 11 steals and three blocked shots.

Gregory Young (Dorchester, Mass.) led UMass in the win with an impressive double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds.  Fellow senior Carl Joseph (Brockton, Mass.) dropped in nine points and finished with 11 boards. 

Of the Beacons 21 points in the first half, the first nine came from junior Karl Agenor (Dorchester, Mass.).  Off the bench, Mike Campbell (Boston, Mass.) returned to the Beacons line-up, and made an immediate impact with his eight points in just 13 minutes of playing time.  Sophomore Sam Freeman (Boston, Mass.) also gave UMass some big minutes in the second half, to help carry his team to the win.

For the Rams, Bertholyn Alexandre posted a team-best 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench.  Timothy McCarthy led the starting five with eight points and four boards.

Men's Basketball returns to action on Saturday when they host Eastern Connecticut State University at 3 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.