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Senior forward Delroy James notched a double-double to lead Rhode Island to a 79-67 win over Northeastern in men's basketball action on Wednesday night at Matthews Arena. Senior guard Chaisson Allen had 17 points and five assists to lead five Huskies in double figures.

The Huskies (2-5) had five players score in double figures for the first time since 2006, including three who set new career highs. Sophomore forward Kauri Black tallied 13 points, classmate Jonathan Lee tallied 11 and rookie forward Ryan Pierson added 10 points, all personal bests. Sophomore guard Joel Smith scored 10 points as well. Black also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots, while sophomore Alwayne Bigby came away with a pair of steals.

James stuffed the stat sheet with 25 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Rams (6-3). Senior guard Marquis Jones chipped in 15 points, including 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc, and sophomore forward Nikola Malesevic added 13 points.

The Huskies got off to a hot start, breaking the Rhode Island press on several occasions to jump out to an 18-9 lead, with Allen draining a pair of threes in that span.

The Rams answered with an 11-2 run, capped by an old-fashioned three-point play by James that tied the score at 20-20 with 9:10 to go in the first half. Sophomore guard Jonathan Lee hit a jumper for the Huskies, but James answered at the other end to tie the score again. Both sides went back-and-forth again, with Allen hitting a jumper before senior forward Ben Eaves hit a pair of free throws for the Rams.

Allen hit two more free throws to put Northeastern back up by two and freshman guard Alex Harris made it a three-point lead when he stole the ball and was fouled, hitting a free throw to give the Huskies a 27-24 lead with 6:53 left in the first half.

James scored four straight points to give Rhode Island its first lead since the opening minute and the see-saw battle continued with Black and Rhode Island guard Anthony Malhoit trading buckets before Lee drained a layup, then grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end and dished to Allen to put the Huskies up by three with 4:04 to go in the first half.

Senior guard Marquis Jones hit a three to tie the game at 35-35 and after a Dinko Marshavelski layup and Smith free throw put Northeastern up by three, James knocked down a three-pointer to level the score again with two minutes left in the first. Malesevic put in a layup with 30 seconds on the clock to give the Rams a 40-38 halftime lead.

The second half belonged to Rhode Island as the Huskies never got any closer than the halftime deficit. The Rams built up a 13-point lead with 2:29 left in the game.

The Rams shot 24-of-52 (46.2 percent) from the field, only slightly better than Northeastern's 22-of-48 (45.8 percent) performance. The biggest difference came at the free throw line, where Rhode Island was 26-of-30 (86.7 percent) compared to Northeastern's 18-of-33 (54.5 percent) mark. The Rams outrebounded the Huskies by a 35-28 margin.

The Huskies are back in action on Dec. 22, traveling to Cancun, Mexico, to face St. Louis in the opening round of the Cancun Governor's Cup.