BEVERLY, Mass. – Jake Gomez swished a baseline, short corner jumper with four seconds remaining in overtime and the sixth-seeded Rams defense denied the third-ranked Gulls over the final few seconds to send the Suffolk men's basketball team past Endicott, 80-79, in the CCC First Round Tuesday night at MacDonald Gymnasium.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 80 | Endicott 79
RECORDS: Suffolk (14-11) | Endicott (17-9)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk was hot from 3-point range to get the game going as Evan Cook struck once from behind-the-arc and Keenan Robertson converted to buckets from downtown to push the blue-and-gold in front 9-7 three minutes into the contest.  

See-saw action saw Suffolk hang onto the upperhand, 18-14, at the 12:38 mark. The Gulls soared back with back-to-back hoops from 3-point range before a traditional 3-point play by Gomez restored the lead for Suffolk.  

The back-and-forth affair ensued with three more lead exchanges that put Suffolk in its largest hole of the opening half, 33-28, with 6:25 left on the clock in the opening half.  

Out of the huddle, Owen Walters sparked a 12-0 Rams run that pushed Suffolk ahead 40-33. That stretch featured five points from Nick Verdile.  

In the final three minutes of the first frame, Endicott put away two more buckets from behind-the-arc to cut the distance back to one, but Devin Dzikas buried a 3-pointer of his to send into the half up 43-39.   

Jeff Hill may have knocked down a trey out of the locker room, but Suffolk responded with six straight points to grab a seven-point advantage, 49-42. 

From there, Danny Yardemian took on the bulk of the offensive workload for Suffolk and kept the lead in the Rams favor for as long as he could. The grad student nearly hoop-for-hoop with the Gulls to keep the lead in the Rams favor, 61-57, with just under 10 minutes left in regulation.   

Six unanswered Endicott points shifted the upper hand to the host, 65-63, at the 6:38 mark in the second stanza. 

Cole LeVangie sandwiched triples around a Gulls hoop, before Gomez made a layup and Endicott retaliated with a traditional 3-point play from Jalen Echevarria to even things at 71-all with 1:46 on the clock.  

Neither team scored over the rest of regulation to set up the thrilling overtime outcome. 

The game ended the same way it started, with back-and-forth action. Endicott went up four before Suffolk came back. Freebies from Robertson were followed by an old-school 3-point play from Gomez to even things at 75-75 with 1:26 on the clock.  

The teams traded baskets over the next 60 seconds before Gomez put on his hero cape and made Robertson's bounce pass into the eventual game winner at the six-second mark. 

Endicott Used a timeout with 4 seconds to go, but Echevarria's deep hail mary was off the mark and Suffolk erupted in victory.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Robertson anchored Suffolk's offensive output with 25 points on an 8-for-17 showing from the floor that included a 5-for-8 effort from 3-point range. He grabbed seven boards and had three assists and one steal. The junior was hot from the start with 17 first half points. 
• Gomez finished with 20 points on a 7-for-10 performance from the field. He did not miss his six attempts at the line and added seven caroms, three takeaways and one assist. 
• Yardemian pitched in 11 points, seven boards, four assists and one block. 
• LeVangie added nine points, six rebounds, one handout and one steal. 
• The Rams were hot from downtown with 11 3-pointers on a 47.8 (11-23) conversion rate. 
• Suffolk out rebounded Endicott, 43-35. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk made its third straight CCC postseason appearance, first as the sixth seed. 
• The Rams will move onto the CCC tournament semifinals for the second time, first since 2022. 
• Overall, the blue-and-gold advances to a league semifinal for the sixth time in program history. 
• Suffolk improved to 2-2 all-time in the CCC tourney. 
• Under Jeff Juron's guidance, Suffolk its 3-7 in the postseason and 2-2 in the CCC tournament. 
• The Rams moved to 6-5 all-time versus Endicott. 
• Suffolk has coupled back-to-back wins together over the Gulls for the first time in program history. 
• The Rams defeated the Gulls in Beverly for the second time to move to 2-3 at Endicott in the all-time series. 
• Suffolk and Endicott met in the CCC postseason for the second time, first since the 2022 CCC Quarterfinals. 
• Suffolk is unbeaten, 2-0 against Endicott in the CCC postseason. 
• The overtime postseason contest was a first in a conference tournament for Suffolk.
• The OT outing was Suffolk's second of the season, first since a 102-98 setback to Nichols Jan. 13, 2024. 
• Suffolk won in overtime for the first time since a 91-77 OT decision at Western New England, Jan. 14, 2019. 
• Gomez had a career-high 20 points. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk takes its talents to Springfield, Massachusetts, where it will take on second seed Western New England at 7:30 p.m.