BOSTON – Suffolk men's basketball picked up its second straight GNAC victory Wendnesday night behind a 85-61 decision over Rivier at Emerson's Bobbi Brown & Steven Plofker Gymnasium.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 85| Rivier 61
RECORDS: Suffolk (11-9, 3-3 GNAC) | Rivier (3-16, 0-7 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Rivier roared out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes. Jonathan Eng's first three-pointer of the night sparked a 7-0 Suffolk stretched that leveled the playing field at 9-all, but the Raiders responded with back-to-back buckets to cling to the edge.
Eng's second long ball of the outing chipped the gap down to one. Eng then set up his classmate and co-captain George Grillakis on the fast-break. The senior's layup turned the tides for the hosts and they never looked back. Those five points ignited a 17-3 Rams run that made it a 10-point, 26-16, Suffolk score at the 9:11 minute mark.
After trading hoops over the next five minutes, a pair of freebies from William Rowe jump started another scoring span for Suffolk. An 8-2 rally gave the Rams a 39-25 advantage with just over two minutes to play before half time.
Rivier scored five quick points to trim the margin to single digits, but Max Bonney-Liles sunk a triple with six seconds on left on the clock to send Suffolk into the locker up ahead by 12, 42-30.
A traditional three-point play by Jack McCarthy opened the second stanza to pull the Raiders back within nine. A Brendan Mulson bucket from behind-the-arc restored the double-digit distance for the Rams, that they would not give up from there.
Suffolk slowly built a 20-point cushion, 73-53, when Bonney-Liles buried his fourth trey of the night at the 7:07 minute mark. That margin neared 30 when 1:43 to go when Connor Byrne hit a jumper.
It was cruise control for the blue-and-gold from there to hold onto the conference victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Bonney-Liles led a well-balanced scoring unit with the sophomore shooting 7-for-8 from the floor, 4-for-5 from downtown for a game-high 18-point effort to go with two boards two takeaways and one swat.
- Grillakis did not miss from the field. The Rams' reserved hit all five shots he took for a 12-point performance with two dimes, one board and one steal to his credit as well.
- Eng contributed 11 points on a 4-for-7 showing from the floor, which included a 3-for-6 effort from three-point range. He added five helpers, three caroms and one steal.
- Thomas Duffy set-up most of Suffolk's offense with seven assists. He also chipped in five points, two rebounds and one block.
- Suffolk shot 54.4 percent (31-57) as a team, went 9-for-25 from beyond-the-arc and had a 70.0 connection rate (14-20) at the charity stripe.
- The Rams outrebounded the Raiders, 37-23.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk strung together its fifth straight win over Rivier to move to 25-14 all-time in the series with the Raiders.
- The Rams improved to 6-1 against Rivier under Jeff Juron's guidance.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk is right back at it tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 6 when it heads across town to Emmanuel. Game time is set for 5 p.m.