Sophomore Colin Halpin (Melrose, Mass.) scored a career-high 34 points to lead the Suffolk University Men's Basketball team (6-14, 4-9 GNAC) past the Norwich University Cadets (11-8, 7-5 GNAC), 72-62 on Tuesday evening at the Regan Gymnasium.
The win snaps the Cadets six-game winning streak as Suffolk picks up their fourth win of the season in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play, and sixth overall.
Sophomore Matt Pepdjonovic (Quincy, Mass.) recorded his 12th double-double of the season scoring 13 points and adding 19 rebounds, along with five assists.
Norwich had three players finish the game scoring in double digits as junior Antonio Davis (Albany, N.Y.) and senior Jaren Jeffcoat (Dallas, Texas) each scored 16 points, while junior Josh Cabrera (Providence, R.I.) scored 15 points on 3-for-5 shooting from three-point land.
Suffolk took a slim one-point lead into the half at 31-30 as Halpin scored 16 points in 12 minutes of action before departing in the first half with an ankle injury.
Halpin would return to start the second half and led the Rams on a seven-point run that was capped with a three-pointer that gave the Rams their first double digit lead of the game, 43-33 two and a half minutes into the half.
Halpin would go on a tear in the first six minutes of action in the second half scoring 16 of the Rams' 20 points to build their largest lead of the game at 51-38.
Norwich started to make things interesting midway through the period as a pair of free throws by freshman Pim Smulders (Holland) would shrink the Suffolk lead to four but that was as close as the visitors could get.
Pepdjonovic and the Rams controlled the glass the second half of the game as the Suffolk center collected 14 total rebounds (11 defensive) taking advantage of Norwich shooting thirty-three percent as a team from the field. The Rams only limited Norwich to seven second chance points in the contest. Suffolk held the total edge in rebounds at 57-37.
Senior Mike Fleming (Exeter, N.H.) scored nine points, including a couple of key layups, one which gave the Rams an eight point lead with a minute left in the game. Senior Dan Williams (Taunton, Mass.) collected six points off the bench, along with six rebounds in 14 minutes of action off the bench.
Davis had four blocked shots for the Cadets, who had 11 total blocks as a team in the game.
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday evening in rescheduled games from previous cancellations due to the inclement weather that has plagued the northeast over the past few weeks. Norwich will travel to Rivier College for a 7:00pm tipoff. Suffolk will head south to Providence, R.I. to take on the Wildcats of Johnson & Wales in GNAC action at 7:30pm.