
NEWTON, Mass. – The Suffolk men's basketball team got back on track Saturday afternoon as Thomas Duffy scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Rams to a 60-49 victory at Lasell.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 60, Lasell 49
RECORDS: Suffolk (12-11, 7-7 GNAC) | Lasell (11-12, 9-5 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk trailed early on before Thomas Duffy put the Rams ahead 10-9 at the 16:49 minute mark. After the lead was exchanged, the sophomore regained the edge, 15-13, for the blue-and-gold with a triple with 12:03 on the clock.
The Rams were unable to couple back-to-back buckets together and Lasell hung around before flipping the score in its favor once again, 18-17, with 7:34 remaining in the first frame. This time, Brendan Mulson regained the lead for the visitors before Duffy went off on a 5-0 run himself to give Suffolk a 24-18 cushion.
Stefan Masciarelli equalized the playing field at 24-24 with 3:15 left in the half. Duffy broke the tie with his 17th point of first frame and George Grillakis followed with a layup of his own to send the Rams into the break up 28-24.
Lasell was withint two points after Masciarelli jumper two minutes into the second half, but Jim Djema and Mulson hit back-to-back threes to push the Suffolk margin up to eight points, 36-28. The Laseres again whittled the deficit down to one point, 39-38, at the 10-minute mark after Dannie Moore's traditional three-point play, but Suffolk answered with six consecutive points, two from Nathaniel Ilebode and four from Gillakis, get rebuild a seven-point distance, 45-38.
The Lasers kept battling, cutting the deficit to four points, 47-43, with 7:25 remaining, but Suffolk knocked down three straight ripples, two by Mulson and one by Duffy, to open up its largest lead of the day, 56-43, with three minutes to play.
Lasell could not come back after that and Suffolk ended up winning by 11.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Duffy was one of three Rams to score in double figures. The Fairfield, Connecticut, local shot 50 percent from both the floor (8-16) and three-point land (3-6) and wen 5-for-6 at the line. Defensively, he contributed six caroms.
- Mulson joined Duffy in double digits with 13 points and five boards, while Grillakis rounded out the trio with 10 points and five boards off the bench.
- Suffolk shot 37.0 percent (20-54) from the field, 39.1 percent (9-23) from downtown and 91.7 percent (11-12) from the charity striple.
- The Lasers out rebounded the Rams, 37-35.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk defeated Lasell for the first time since Feb. 20, 2016 and seventh time overall.
- The Rams captured their 12th victory of the season, marking the most wins since going 13-13 in 2003-04.
- Suffolk leveled its league ledger at .500 7-7, which marks the most conference victories under Jeff Juron and since going 8-10 versus league foes in 2012-13
- Duffy had his 10th consecutive contest with double figures, scoring 10 or more points for the 20th time in his career, while he surpassed 20-plus points for the ninth time.
- Mulson tallied double digits in scoring for the 12th time this year.
- Grillakis achieved double digits for the sixth time this season.
COMING UP
Suffolk caps off its regular season home slate Tuesday, Feb. 13 as the Rams entertain Rivier inside Regan Gymnasium at 7 p.m.