Men’s basketball (13-6, 2-4 Atlantic 10) fell 74-61 to Massachusetts (9-11, 4-3 A-10) on Wednesday night, marking the team’s third straight loss.

The Revolutionaries have now descended to 2-4 in A-10 play after starting 2-1 with two convincing road victories. Last week’s losses to Duquesne and George Mason and Wednesday’s loss to UMass have sunk the Revs to two games under .500 in the conference. 

The Revs struggled from the floor in the loss, shooting 35 percent from the field, including five of 21 from beyond the arc. Despite the overall struggles, redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro led the Revs with 23 points, shooting nine of 11 from the field and adding seven rebounds. Redshirt freshman guard Christian Jones was the only other Rev with double-digit points, scoring 10 and adding six assists. 

Senior guard Rahsool Diggins and sophomore guard Jaylen Curry led the Minutemen with 19 points each, with Curry adding six assists. UMass shot 48 percent from the field as a team, including 46 percent from three. In the second half alone, the Minutemen shot 51 percent from the field, leading to their victory. 

But the game started slow for the Revs and the Minutemen. The Revs held a 15-8 lead at the halfway mark of the first half, using a three from Jones to jump ahead by seven. But the Minutemen would rattle off 6 unanswered points to cut the Revs lead to 19-16 at the 6:43 mark, tying up the game at 23-23 with 4:28 to go.

The Minutemen would take the lead for the first time since a 4-2 lead at the 15:48 mark on a layup from Diggins with 3:56 left in the first half. UMass would continue to build on their lead, taking a 36-29 lead into the break. 

Coming out of the half, Castro would complete a 3-point play to get the Revs within one, trailing 40-39. But out of a Revs timeout, Diggins would drain a three to up the Minutemen’s lead to 43-39. 

After Castro slammed home a dunk at the 15:32 mark to cut the lead back to 44-41, a drained jumper from Diggins would kickstart a 10-3 run in just under five minutes, increasing the Minutemen’s lead to 56-44. 

The teams traded baskets down the stretch, with the Revs clawing to get back into the game after cutting the lead to seven on a dunk from senior forward Sean Hansen. But another three from Diggins would put the game on ice for the Minutemen and hand the Revs their third straight loss. 

With the loss, the Revs dropped to 13-6 on the season overall and 2-4 in the A-10, tying them for 11th place in the conference. The Revs return to the Smith Center on Saturday to take on Saint Louis (12-7, 5-1 A-10) with tip-off set for 2 p.m.