NEWTON, Mass. – The Suffolk men's basketball team got back on track Saturday afternoon as Thomas Duffy scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Rams to a 60-49 victory at Lasell.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 60, Lasell 49
RECORDS: Suffolk (12-11, 7-7 GNAC) | Lasell (11-12, 9-5 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk trailed early on before Thomas Duffy put the Rams ahead 10-9 at the 16:49 minute mark. After the lead was exchanged, the sophomore regained the edge, 15-13, for the blue-and-gold with a triple with 12:03 on the clock.
The Rams were unable to couple back-to-back buckets together and Lasell hung around before flipping the score in its favor once again, 18-17, with 7:34 remaining in the first frame. This time, Brendan Mulson regained the lead for the visitors before Duffy went off on a 5-0 run himself to give Suffolk a 24-18 cushion.
Stefan Masciarelli equalized the playing field at 24-24 with 3:15 left in the half. Duffy broke the tie with his 17th point of first frame and George Grillakis followed with a layup of his own to send the Rams into the break up 28-24.
Lasell was withint two points after Masciarelli jumper two minutes into the second half, but Jim Djema and Mulson hit back-to-back threes to push the Suffolk margin up to eight points, 36-28. The Laseres again whittled the deficit down to one point, 39-38, at the 10-minute mark after Dannie Moore's traditional three-point play, but Suffolk answered with six consecutive points, two from Nathaniel Ilebode and four from Gillakis, get rebuild a seven-point distance, 45-38.
The Lasers kept battling, cutting the deficit to four points, 47-43, with 7:25 remaining, but Suffolk knocked down three straight ripples, two by Mulson and one by Duffy, to open up its largest lead of the day, 56-43, with three minutes to play.
Lasell could not come back after that and Suffolk ended up winning by 11.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Duffy was one of three Rams to score in double figures. The Fairfield, Connecticut, local shot 50 percent from both the floor (8-16) and three-point land (3-6) and wen 5-for-6 at the line. Defensively, he contributed six caroms.
- Mulson joined Duffy in double digits with 13 points and five boards, while Grillakis rounded out the trio with 10 points and five boards off the bench.
- Suffolk shot 37.0 percent (20-54) from the field, 39.1 percent (9-23) from downtown and 91.7 percent (11-12) from the charity striple.
- The Lasers out rebounded the Rams, 37-35.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk defeated Lasell for the first time since Feb. 20, 2016 and seventh time overall.
- The Rams captured their 12th victory of the season, marking the most wins since going 13-13 in 2003-04.
- Suffolk leveled its league ledger at .500 7-7, which marks the most conference victories under Jeff Juron and since going 8-10 versus league foes in 2012-13
- Duffy had his 10th consecutive contest with double figures, scoring 10 or more points for the 20th time in his career, while he surpassed 20-plus points for the ninth time.
- Mulson tallied double digits in scoring for the 12th time this year.
- Grillakis achieved double digits for the sixth time this season.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk caps off its regular season home slate Tuesday, Feb. 13 as the Rams entertain Rivier inside Regan Gymnasium at 7 p.m.