DUDLEY, Mass. – A late scoring draught by Suffolk men's basketball caused the Rams to drop a 68-66 Conference of New England battle at Nichols Saturday afternoon.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 66 | Nichols 68
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-5, 4-2 CNE) | Nichols (7-6, 4-2 CNE)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Out of the third tie of the day, at 8-all, Suffolk scored seven unanswered points to build a 15-8 edge. That run featured buckets from Danny Yardemian, Devin Dzikas and Declan Davis.
Another 7-0 stretch by Suffolk extended the blue-and-gold's edge to double figures, 23-12, at the 6:35 mark.
The Bison battled battle with a 10-2 spurt that trimmed the margin down to five, 29-24, with 3:17 to go before halftime.
The teams would trade hoops to close out the opening half with Suffolk in front by seven, 34-27.
Suffolk managed to maintain a multi-possession margin in the first seven minutes in the second stanza as it was up 48-42 when Jeff Juron took a timeout.
Nichols rallied out of the huddle and poured in eight consecutive points to level go up two, 50-48.
The game of runs swung in Suffolk's favor. Yardemian leveled the playing field before back-to-back buckets by Jake Gomez push the Rams in front 54-50 with just under seven minutes left on the clock.
A near 3:30 scoreless stretch by the Rams allowed Nichols to sneak in front 61-59.
Keenan Robertson ended the draught and took matters into his own hands with two quick hoops that evened things at 61-all with 1:20 to go.
The lead would flip back-and-for yet again and Nichols held onto the upper hand, 65-64, with less than 30 seconds to lay.
Suffolk had the chance to grab the lead once again, but the shot was off the mark, which forced the Rams to gamble with sending the Bison to the free throw line.
The host sealed the blue-and-gold's setback by going 3-for-4 at the charity stripe down the stretch.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Robertson finished with 22 points behind a 10-for-22 showing from the floor to go along with nine rebounds.
- Yardemian supplied 13 points, five caroms, three assists and four takeaways.
- Nick Verdile added eight points, three boards, three helpers and two steals.
- Gomez supplied eight rebounds, five points and three assists.
- Suffolk shot 42.4 percent (28-66) on the day, 23.8 percent (5-21) from 3-point land and 55.6 percent (5-9) at the free throw line.
- Suffolk outrebounded Nichols, 40-37.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk looks to bring its winning ways back to Boston Wednesday, Jan. 15 when Hartford stops by Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court for a 7:30 p.m. match.