PHILADELPHIA — The pain the URI basketball team felt so often in the second half of the Atlantic 10 season last winter returned yesterday when the Rams opened this year’s conference season.

Rhode Island and Saint Joseph’s staged an absolute beauty of a contest at The Palestra, one that featured twists and turns at almost every step before the Hawks pulled out a 92-86 triple-overtime victory.

It was, in many ways, even more difficult to take than the half-dozen last-minute losses last year, although there was a different twist. This time, the Rams looked like a beaten team for a half as the Hawks dominated them on the way to a 44-27 halftime advantage. St. Joe’s got its margin to 19 early in the second half, the biggest deficit URI (11-5) has had all season.

Rather than folding, URI charged back and turned it into the longest game the school has played since a triple-overtime victory over West Virginia in 1994 at Keaney Gym.

“We look at it like we were down 19 in the second half and we fought back,” said Rhody co-captain Jimmy Baron. “We told ourselves we were going to fight back, and we did it. You take that little piece right there and know there’s progress for us.”

“It was a great comeback for us,” agreed his father, Rhody coach Jim Baron. “We had our opportunities to win. We had our chances.”

“When you play, you want to create memories,” said Hawks coach Phil Martelli. “This is the kind of game that provides you memories.”

It was the longest game for Saint Joseph’s since a 1961 contest against Utah in the NCAA Tournament.

It is going to be hard for either team to be involved in a more dramatic and eventful battle the rest of the season. This one was that good.

Saint Joseph’s, which came in a disappointing 6-7 but with a week to prepare, shut down URI better than any team has all season in the first 20 minutes. The Hawks controlled everything and led, 44-27, URI’s lowest-scoring half of the season. Ahmad Nivins, the Hawks’ 6-foot-9 center, who was sensational all day with 28 points and a career-high 20 rebounds, had 15 and 9 in the first half alone. And Nivins dominated play in the paint, spearheading an excellent Hawks defense.

“They’re a good help team,” said URI guard Marquis Jones. “You don’t just have to go against one guy, you have to go against the whole team, because they help so much. And Nivins is a great big man.”

Saint Joseph’s scored the first basket of the second half to go up by 19. But, all of a sudden, everything changed. The Rhody press began giving the Hawks fits. The URI defense overall got much better. It held Saint Joseph’s to five field goals — the Hawks were 5-for-21 — in the second half. URI surged back into it by scoring 16 straight points early in the half to close to 50-47.

From there it was a tense struggle, with both teams having numerous opportunities to take control. URI never pulled even until Baron’s two free throws with 36 seconds left in regulation tied it at 64. URI got the ball back but turned it over with four seconds left. Saint Joseph’s raced down, and Darrin Govens (23 points) launched an off-balance 3-pointer. It was short, but Nivins was there to tip it in. It went in at the buzzer.

The teams had to wait around as officials went to the television monitor. The pictures showed the ball was on Nivins’ hand when the red light went on. No basket. Overtime.

Rhode Island had the lead for much of the first extra session. The score was tied at 68 as the clock wound down and URI had the ball.

“We set up a play where Jimmy (Baron), Keith (Cothran) or Marquis (Jones) could take it, whoever was open. Marquis was wide open,” coach Baron said.

Jones had a great look from the top of the key.

“I thought it was going in,” he said.

The ball hit the inside of the back rim and stayed out. Bring on the second overtime. URI got down by five but rallied again and tied it at 77. Govens made a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left. URI rushed down and Cothran (14 points) hit an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer. It was so close to the buzzer that officials again had to go to the television monitors. This one was good. It was tied at 80.

The Hawks, with Nivins again the key, went up in the third extra session and were helped by two technicals on URI coach Baron, one for protesting what he thought was a travel by Nivins as he scored a basket that made it 85-81, and a second for calling a timeout when URI had none left. This time, URI ran out of comebacks.

Among the many wild stats the game produced, URI, the running team, had one fast-break basket all day. The Hawks, the halfcourt team, had 27 points on the break.

pkenyon@projo.com