Gary Forbes Leads UMass Back to Life

In an effort not to sound like a broken record, I won't repeat yesterday's admonitions that the Atlantic 10 is fraught with danger. Xavier needing a last-second tip-in to outlast Saint Louis says most of what needs to be said on that front. While the Musketeers were trying to avoid an upsetting loss, Massachusetts was trying to climb back into the race for the conference title. A 12-point loss to those Billikens had left them on the wrong end of three of their last four and another loss would push them two games below .500 in the league.

Thanks to Gary Forbes, that didn't happen. Forbes scored 13 points in each half and added 13 rebounds to make it an unlucky night for Rhode Island. The 78-76 win evens the Minutemen's record at 4-4 in the A-10 and keeps them within shouting distance of every team not named Xavier.

It wasn't the prettiest outing of Forbes's career, he needed 30 shots to get his points, but that fits right into UMass's scheme. The Minutemen like to shoot first, second and third, a style that Forbes is more than happy to play. As you can see in the video up top, even his dunks take more than one try but he gets it right in the end. He'll hoist threes, attack the hoop and, again see above, throw it down with abandon. He was too much for URI on Thursday night.

It's a tough loss for URI to swallow, they won four straight by double digits coming in, but not a particularly hurtful one. They remain on track for the tournament as does UMASS, which just needed a little nudge back in the right direction.