BOSTON – Former Suffolk men's basketball standout Michael Hagopian will take his talents overseas as he has signed a contract with Urartu Basketball Club Vivaro in Armenia this week.   

Hagopian graduated from Suffolk this past May after helping the Rams to a historical 2018-19 season in which Suffolk built a resume that included the most victories (18-9) since 1975-76, highest conference finish (second) since 2002 behind a 9-2 league ledger and hosting rights to the league's quarterfinals for the first time since 2004.   

The Watertown, Massachusetts, local, is no stranger to playing in Armenia as he spent the previous two summers competing on Team Armenia at the FIBA EuroBasketball Pre-Qualifiers. 

The four-year Suffolk starter made an immediate impact once arriving to Beacon Hill, appearing in 25 of the 26 games he appeared in his freshman campaign and contributing 6.3 ppg. The sharpshooter's numbers only went up from there. Season-by-season he proved to be one of the biggest shooting threats to wear a blue-and-gold jersey in the 72-year history of the Rams' men's basketball program and graduated as the leader in triples made with 236 treys to his credit. 

Throughout the course of his career, Hagopian played in 105 games, starting all, but one. He etched his name in the Rams' 1,000-point club, the 29th player to do so, December 8, 2018 at Lasell and concluded his Suffolk playing days with 1,271 points on 450 field goals made, 52.4 percent of which came from downtown.   His fearless ability to hit game changing shots showed in his impressive 42.9 career connection rate from behind-the-arc. 

Now, with his Finance degree from the Sawyer Business School secured, his playing days will continue with Urartu Vivaro, a professional basketball team in Armenia based in Vanadzor. The team, which was formed in 2017, will enter its third year in 2019-20 in the Armenia Basketball League A, the top men's official basketball league in Armenia.