BOSTON – For his opening week performance, Thomas Duffy won last week's national poll conducted by HeroSports.com and was named the first DIII Men's Basketball HERO of the Week for the 2017-18 season. 

Duffy was nominated for the honor Monday after putting together three straight 20-plus point games to open his sophomore season. The guard from Fairfield, Connecticut, grabbed 45.6            percent of the votes, more than 122 than the second-place finisher with 409 of the nearly 900 submitted. 

In the three-game week, Duffy averaged 23.7 ppg, while shooting 50 percent (23-46) from the floor and an impressive 62.5 percent (10-16) from three-point range. Defensively, he pulled down 2.3 rpg with 1.7 spg. 

Duffy got the season started on a high note, with a career-night in a 75-67 win over Brandeis. His 25-point performance helped Suffolk to their first season debut win in the Jeff Juron era and first time lifting the lid on a campaign with a W since 2014-15. The triumph also marked the first time the Rams defeated the Judges since 2001. In the win, Duffy shot 52.9 percent from the field and knocked down a career-best four triples, shooting 80.0 percent (4-5) from downtown. 

Duffy's stellar performance carried into the Williams Tip-Off Tournament where he put together a 24-point day versus Stevens and a 22-point outing against Salem State. In both contests he shot 50 percent from the floor and maintained consistency from three-point land. 

Duffy and the Rams look to snap a four-game skid as they turn their attention to GNAC play, which they open up on Saturday, Dec. 2 in front of their home crowd at Regan Gymnasium at 3 p.m.