NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Suffolk men's basketball team saw its seven-game win streak come to an end Saturday afternoon as the Albertus Magnus Falcons defeated the Rams, 93-87, at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 93 | Albertus Magnus 87
RECORDS: Suffolk (18-7, 9-2 GNAC) | Albertus Magnus (17-7, 9-2 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Back-and-forth action was present over the opening half of the first frame with the lead changing seven times and tying on three occasions. Thomas Duffy knocked down a long ball and Michael Hagopian followed with a pull-up jumper to put the blue-and-gold in front, 30-27, at the midway point of the opening half.
Suffolk hit a scoring draught from there, tallying just five points over the next seven minutes to fall behind 43-34. Duffy sparked a late charge with under two minutes to play before the intermission. The junior's second trey of the day ignited an 8-2 Rams run that cut the margin to three, 45-42, at the end of the first 20 minutes.
Out of the locker room, the Rams continued to comeback and a pair of freebies from Duffy flipped things in their favor early, 48-47.
From there, the foes swapped the advantage twice more before Alex Jacovides got going from downtown. The sophomore hit back-to-back from behind-the-arc to regain a 58-53 cushion for the visitors.
The five-point edge was enough to build off of the Falcons kept up the pressure to keep see-saw action going in the regular-season finale for both squads.
After the score equalized at 64-all with 10 minutes remaining, Albertus Magnus took over and went ahead by nine, 81-72, with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
Suffolk chipped away here-and-there, but the Falcons had an answer for each of their foe hoops.
Just when things looked to be locked up for Albertus Magnus, Jacovides and Duffy teamed up for seven straight points that trimmed the margin to five, 88-83, with 45 seconds on the clock.
The Rams gambled with the foul game and the Falcons' composure paid off as they secured the win at the line to seal the first seed in the 2019 GNAC Tournament.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Duffy's relentlessness paid off as he finished the day with 29 points on an 8-for-13 effort from the field, which included a 4-for-6 performance from three-point range. He missed just one of his 10 attempts from the line. In addition to his offensive output, which saw him set-up four shots, he grabbed six boards.
- DiPrizio had an all-around day with 16 points and eight boards to go along with four assists.
- Mulson contributed 15 points, while Hagopian and Jacovides each had 12.
- Suffolk shot at a 52.8 percent clip (28-53) from the floor, 42.9 percent (12-28) from three-point land and 76.0 percent (19-25) from the charity stripe.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk finishes the GNAC in second place, the highest finish in the Jeff Juron era.
- The second-place finish is a first for the blue-and-and and marks the highest finish since the Rams' captured the top seed in 2002.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk will host the GNAC Quarterfinals in front of its home crowd at Regan Gymnasium Tuesday, Feb. 19. The top-seeded Rams await their opponent with the official bracket set to be released later on today.