DeMarr Langford Jr. and Makai Ashton-Langford averaged a combined 30 points for Boston College amid the Eagles’ 3-0 start.

The brothers had emerged as the heartbeat of BC’s offense in the first year of the Earl Grant era.

Wednesday at a packed Ryan Center, the duo had no pulse. They totaled one field goal and a mere seven points. Meanwhile, Rhode Island’s sibling tandem, Maryland transfers Makhi and Makhel Mitchell, showed out.

The Mitchell twins, both of whom were four-star recruits coming out of Woodrow Wilson High School, teamed up for 18 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks. They suffocated the paint, helping URI hold BC to 25% from the field and grind out a 57-49 win.

The whole “basketball is a game of runs” thing encapsulated this regional matchup. URI (3-0) shot out to an 8-0 lead, thanks to a pair of Rams 3-pointers. Then BC (3-1), which was scoreless for practically the opening four minutes of play, responded with 10 straight points of its own.

Drexel transfer TJ Bickerstaff, who finished with a career-high double-double of 22 points and 15 rebounds, scored the Eagles’ first seven points. But a Quinten Post and-one dunk handed BC an early lead. Post got the start at the five over James Karnik for the first time this season and started strong with nine points and three boards in the first half.

Aside from Bickerstaff and Post, however, it wasn’t a pretty offensive showing for the Eagles in the opening 20 minutes of action, or, for that matter, most of the game. BC started 4-of-16 from the field, including 1-of-6 from beyond the arc. Still missing sharpshooter Brevin Galloway, the Eagles didn’t have a true 3-point threat, and that hurt them.

After all, URI was creating an impenetrable wall in the paint, thanks to the Mitchell twins, each standing at least 6-foot-9.

Makhi Mitchell, who piled up nine first-half points, capped an 11-1 Rams run with a nice move under the basket to put URI up, 19-11. Once again, BC answered, this time with the most scoring it’d get from the Langford brothers all night. During a 9-2 Eagles stretch, Langford cashed in on his only layup of the game, while Ashton-Langford sunk a pair of free throws.

A Jaeden Zackery 3-pointer and a Post layup cut BC’s deficit to one, and the score stood, 21-20.

The teams went back and forth for a bit before Jeremy Sheppard and Makhi Mitchell drilled consecutive 3-pointers. Mitchell rolled to the hoop and extended the Rams’ lead to 35-26 prior to intermission.

The Eagles hadn’t trailed at any point of their first three games. Now, they were facing a halftime deficit.

URI shot 55.6% from the floor in the opening period, but that percentage was about to drop. The second half was a defensive battle. And Makhel Mitchell was at the center of it all. He sniffed the Rams’ single-game program record for blocks (10) with eight, five of which came in the final frame.

BC had no chance of penetrating the lane. But Grant had his team continue to attack, eventually getting the Rams into foul trouble. The problem was, so were the Eagles.

And 12 of URI’s first 16 points of the half came at the line. A 10-4 BC spurt midway through the second period made it a nine-point game again, with URI still leading, 47-38. Except nothing was easy for the Eagles. BC was missing open layups and then again on putbacks.

While BC ramped up the defensive intensity, limiting URI to 25% shooting in the latter portion of play, the Eagles couldn’t take advantage on the other end of the floor.

The closest they got was when Bickerstaff drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing, in addition to being fouled. He completed the four-point play to make it a five-point game. URI quickly extinguished that threat as Makhel Mitchell dialed up a jumper, and then graduate guard Ishmael El-Amin netted a high-arcing 3-pointer from the right wing.

All of a sudden, the Rams were up, 54-44.

It was fitting that the Mitchell twins put the nail in the coffin. A chest pass from Makhi led to a two-handed flush from Makhel that secured the Rams’ first 3-0 start in five years.

URI finished with one fewer block (13) than BC had field goals (14). As good as the Eagles played defense in the second half, the Rams were that much better at protecting the rim.

And BC couldn’t buy a basket from outside. It raises concerns about how the Eagles will dig themselves out of holes when the level of competition increases, like it did Wednesday.