Friday night’s game against Siena emphasized an early season trend — Freddie Riley goes off, so too does the Massachusetts men’s basketball team.

Riley poured in 20 points, including six 3-pointers as the Minutemen (8-3) won a thrilling 82-78 battle with the Saints (3-6) at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

Riley received plenty of help in UMass’ come from behind victory. Chaz Williams led UMass in scoring with 22 points, and Raphiael Putney chipped in 13.

Both teams came out of the gates with mini-runs as the Minutemen built a 6-0 lead, then the Saints countered with an 8-0 run to temporarily regain the lead.

Early on, UMass’ press was ineffective, as Siena guards Kyle Downey and Evan Hymes broke it with ease. This led to easy baskets for the Saints as they held a 21-19 advantage.

“I thought we came out a little lethargic, and weren’t moving the way I’m accustomed to our team moving,” said Kellogg.

Siena continued to break the Minutemen press as it went on a 6-0 run on three straight lay-ups and took a 31-26 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the first half.

“I thought [Siena] controlled tempo for all [but] eight or 10 minutes, they did a nice job of controlling our pressure,” said Kellogg.

Each side traded baskets for the remaining five minutes and the half ended with the Saints in control 41-35.

The only thing keeping UMass in the game was the shooting of Riley. He tallied 11 points in the half, and went 3-for-5 from downtown, while the rest of his team shot jut 1-for-6 on 3-pointers.

On the other side, the Minutemen couldn’t contain Downey who put up 14-first half points for the Saints.

The first five minutes of the second half was no different than the first half as Siena again broke the press without trouble and converted point blank opportunities. The lead grew to 11 at one point.

However, over the next two minutes, 30 seconds, Riley took over. He countered the Saints’ run by canning back-to-back 3-pointers, and cutting the deficit to six. Williams then hit a jumper, and Cady Lalanne converted a 3-point play, and just like that the Minutemen trailed by just two.

On the next possession, after a Hymes missed 3-pointer, Williams grabbed the rebound, found an open Riley, who connected on his third trey of the half, and nearly brought the MassMutual Center to the sky.

If that wasn’t enough for excitement, Putney came up with a steal on the next possession and threw down a thunderous dunk to give the Minutemen a three-point lead.

Now on a 16-3 run, it appeared that UMass was on the verge of breaking the game open. However, the Saints kept their composure and put the Minutemen back on the ropes as they regained a four-point lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the game.

The Saints quickly coughed that lead up as Putney scored six straight points, four of those, coming off beautifully executed out of bounds plays.

The back and forth style of play continued as the Minutemen entered the final minute of the game with a four point advantage. Siena quickly answered on the other end with a long two-point jumper, and then got Williams to turn the ball over at halfcourt with 26 seconds remaining. Williams fouled OD Anosike (22 points, 14 rebounds) who went to the line with an opportunity to tie the game with a pair of free throws. He hit the first, but front-rimmed the second, and the Minutemen came down with the board.

The Minutemen secured the victory by making the front end of three one-and-one’s and making all six of their free throw attempts in the final 21 seconds.

The final four minutes of the game belonged to Williams, who scored 11 points over the that juncture.

“The coaches and my teammates have a lot of confidence in me, and I just looked at them to keep me going, and they told me ‘just keep playing hard, keep working hard’ and we ended up with a victory,” said Williams.

Williams credited the sharp-shooting Riley for perhaps his best game of the season.

“Once again [Freddie] played an amazing game,” said Williams.

For the third game this season, Riley started the game on the bench, a spot he’s succeeded in. Coming off the bench, Riley is now averaging 16.3 pointer per game, and shooting 64 percent from the field while making 13 of his 21 3-point attempts. Conversely, in his eight starts Riley’s produced just 6.5 points per game, while shooting 26 percent from the field and going 10-for-49 from the perimeter.

The Minutemen will now have the opportunity to rest for a week before they play host to Quinnipiac on Dec. 17th.

“To come away with a win on a game we probably didn’t play our best, and the ability to give these guys some time off to rest their minds and bodies I think is a good thing at this point,” said Kellogg.

Jackson Alexander can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @MDC_Alexander.