The Suffolk University Men's Basketball team (7-10, 4-6 GNAC) outlasted the Rivier College Raiders (4-11, 2-6 GNAC) by a 70-67 margin Tuesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.
Junior Colin Halpin (Melrose, Mass.) paced the Rams with 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field to guide Suffolk to their seventh win of the season and fourth in conference play.
The Rams finished with four shooters recording double digits in points alongside Halpin, including junior Matt Pepdjonovic (Quincy, Mass.) who recorded the double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman Matt Powers (Westwood, Mass.) scored 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting, while junior Chris Torres (Brockton, Mass.) netted 10 points.
The Raiders were led by sophomore Tom Poitras (Bow, N.H.) who scored 20 points, highlighted by an 8-for-9 performance from the free-threw line. Sophomore Jake Nelson (Nashua, N.H.) put home 19 points for the visitors, while junior Garon Whitney (Dover, N.H.) collected 13 boards and chipped in with eight points.
After trailing 30-29 at the break, Suffolk came out and scored the first four points of the second half and never trailed again.
Nelson and the Raiders would even the game at 41-all at the 13:39 mark of the second half as the sophomore guard connected on a three-pointer. Suffolk would answer with a 12-2 run over the next four minutes of play capped off by a Halpin jumper as the Rams made it a ten point edge at 53-43.
Rivier was able to keep things close and with four seconds left, Whitney connected on a long three-point shot to make it a one-point game at 68-67.
Halpin then went to the line and knocked down both of his free-throw shots to give the Rams some breathing room as he was 3-for-4 from the line in the closing seconds of the game to seal the victory for Suffolk.
The Rams held a decided edge in rebounds in the contest at 48-36, while both teams shot nearly even from the field; Rivier (40.8%), Suffolk (41.8%).
Both teams will be back in GNAC action on Thursday evening as Rivier travel to Emerson College for a 5:30pm tipoff with the Lions, while Suffolk travels to Lasell College to face the Lasers at 7:00pm.