KINGSTON, R.I. – The Northeastern men's basketball team (5-8) trimmed a 13-point deficit all the way down to three with 7:04 remaining in regulation, but could not complete the comeback as Rhode Island (6-7) walked away with an 82-71 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Ryan Center.
 
Joe Pridgen led the way with a season-high 19 points (15 in the first half) on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor, one of three Huskies in double figures on the day. He was joined by 14 points off the bench from Rashad King and 10 from Chris Doherty. Northeastern finished 28-of-55 on the day and 3-of-13 from three.
 
Rhode Island received 19 points from Jaden House for a Rams squad that put five players in double figures and shot 55% as a team.
 
Both teams shot better than 50% in an opening half that saw the Rams lead by as many as 10 before the Huskies cut it to four at the break, 40-36.
 
Pridgen could not be stopped, going for 15 points on 6-of-10 from the floor to pace Northeastern, which was 15-of-30 overall and 2-of-8 from deep. Rhode Island, meanwhile, used a 12-3 run over five minutes midway through the half en route to its 10-point advantage, shooting 16-of-29 along the way led by 13 points from House.  
 
Northeastern cut the deficit to two early in the second half before the Rams took control of the game with a 9-2 run to go up by 11 with 12:57 left, with four of those points coming from Green.
 
The Huskies wouldn't go away, though, going on a 10-3 run over four minutes to trim the URI lead to 64-58 with 7:30 remaining, capped by a three-point play from Harold Woods. A Glen McClintock three out of the Under-8 timeout made it a one possession game with 7:04 to go, but that's as close as the Huskies would get as the Rams made seven of their final 11 shots to pull away for good.
 
The Huskies will kick off conference play on Thursday when Northeastern hosts Stony Brook. Tip-off at Matthews Arena is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be nationally television on the CBS Sports Network.