The Friars (9-3) delivered blow after blow and the Minutemen took the beating in an 85-65 loss at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

UMass (6-5) couldn’t salvage a single lead, trailing for 39 minutes, 13 seconds of the game in its worst game of the season.

“I thought I was more disappointed than surprised,” Minutemen coach Derek Kellogg said. “I was disappointed that we didn’t put the ball in the basket and we had worked on that quite frequently all week.”

LaDontae Henton led the charge for Providence finishing with a game-high 27 points, while Kris Dunn (16), Tyler Harris (12) and Carson Desrosiers (10) all chipped in with double-digit performances. Dunn finished with 11 assists and five steals and was the only player who recorded a double-double.

Providence opened the game on a 22-8 run, before UMass narrowed the deficit to 24-20 with 5:16 left after reserve forward Zach Coleman hit a pair of 3-pointers. The Friars immediately extended the lead, scoring the next 10 points en route to what eventually became a 37-24 halftime lead.

“We waited until the second half to really start playing,” UMass guard Derrick Gordon said. “We can’t do that against great teams. We have to be able to start from the get-go.”

Providence extended its largest lead to 32 points with 9:25 remaining in the game, using its defensive stops to perpetuate its offensive explosion with a mixture easy fast break buckets, and a half-court set that featured a lot of Henton.

Henton made the most of his isolation opportunities and torched UMass multiple 3-pointers off high ball-screen fade plays, something that Kellogg had gone over with his team in the scouting report all week long.

“He’s a good player. He’s the reason why they’re 9-3. When he’s played really well, that’s when you’ve seen them on tape or watch them play this year,” Kellogg said.

“That’s disappointing when you go over something on the scouting report and they just don’t react fast enough,” he added.

Maxie Esho led the Minutemen with 17 points, seven of which game from the free throw line. Donte Clark finished with 14 points off the bench, while Coleman scored a career-high 10 points on three 3-pointers in 13 minutes played.

Six-foot point guard Trey Davis had UMass’ most rebounds with six. The Friars outrebounded the Minutemen 42-32 and outscored them in the paint 46-28. In addition to being dominated physically inside, they were out-hustled, failing to coral loose balls and losing the battle of effort.

“I was pretty mad most of the afternoon,” Kellogg said.

“I was trying to keep my composure as far as ‘I’m still coaching’ to build a little bit of morale and chemistry. When the balls on the floor, we expect to be the first team down to get it and that didn’t happen today.”

The tone was set early, when UMass guard Jabarie Hinds hit Derrick Gordon in-stride running up the sideline, who then passed it to Cady Lalanne, filling the lane perfectly for an exclamation point dunk. Lalanne hung on the rim for too long in celebration, received a technical foul, and from there on out it was all Friars.

UMass made just 4-of-16 3-pointers, struggling to find its shot all afternoon. Aside from Coleman’s three, Clark made his only attempt from beyond the arc.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed in Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.