If Thursday night’s win over Fordham is a testament of things to come for the Massachusetts men’s basketball team, its Atlantic 10 schedule will be no cake walk.

The game featured 10 lead changes in the first half alone with the Minutemen (12-3) trailing by as much as six before it reeled off a 7-0 run at the end of the half en route to its 80-76 nail-biting victory at the Mullins Center to improve its perfect home record to 8-0.

UMass coach Derek Kellogg called it a “hang-on win,” against a hot Rams team that was fresh off of back-to-back home wins over No. 21 Cornell and Georgia Tech.

“It was nice to see our team make a nice run to … get a one-point lead at the half and then I thought our guys did a good job in a couple different spurts in the second half to open up a lead.”

Chaz Williams dazzled again for UMass with his game-high 20 points and eight assists, while Terrell Vinson and Raphiael Putney each added double-double performances. Freddie Riley also contributed with 13 points in relief while Jesse Morgan dropped a dozen for the home team.

Free throw shooting almost came back to haunt UMass, going 14-for-24 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter including consecutive misses by Williams with the Minutemen desperately holding onto a one-point lead with 13 seconds left to play in the game.

The sophomore would not let this one slip away, however, as he corralled his own miss and drew another foul to put him at the line again, where he converted on both attempts to push the lead to 79-76.

“I felt like I almost blew the game missing the first two so I wanted to [try to] the best of my abilities to get the rebound on the second miss,” said Williams. “Once I got it, my teammates just told me they had faith in me and a lot of confidence in me to make [the next free throws].”

Kellogg said he has learned to deal with some of Williams’ “crazy plays” like the missed free throws in exchange for the energy and excitement he brings to the floor and to the team.

“He’s perfect for the style of play I’m trying to push on these guys,” said Kellogg. “Listen, when I walk around on campus or in the community, people love talking about Chaz Williams and love coming to watch him play so if he’s playing that way and he’s bringing fans in and people are getting excited, he can play the way he’s playing all day long.”

UMass then made the heads-up play to foul Fordham’s Lamount Samuell, putting him on the line in the double bonus. The sophomore failed to cash in on the first attempt and then was forced to miss the second shot on purpose as the Rams looked to corral the rebound and take the tying shot, but Fordham couldn’t get possession off the miss, stamping the victory for the Minutemen.

Another encouraging sign came from the defensive play of Vinson, who had the tough objective of trying to slow down Rams forward Chris Gaston, who finished with 16 points and 18 boards. The task was even stiffer without the help of freshman Cady Lalanne, who missed the game with an injury.

According to Kellogg, the play of the game came with 2:50 left to play in the contest.

With the Minutemen clinging to a 71-67 lead following a 6-0 run by the Rams, Morgan intercepted a Branden Frazier pass and went the other way for the lay-in and drew the foul to push the lead to seven.

The play proved to be instrumental to the victory, as the three-point swing not only prevented Fordham from cutting the deficit to one possession, but gave UMass that cushion it desperately needed at that point in the game.

“A play like that can make a difference in a game,” said Morgan.

The Minutemen continue on with their A-10 schedule as they visit La Salle on Sunday afternoon with tip-off set for 2 p.m. in Philadelphia.

Stephen Sellner can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Sellner.