BOSTON – Suffolk men's basketball could not hold off a late surge by Emmanuel and the Rams fell to the Saints, 82-72, Thursday night at Andy Yosinoff Court.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 72 | Emmanuel 82
RECORDS: Suffolk (11-10, 3-4 GNAC) | Emmanuel (18-3, 6-1 GNAC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Momentum shifted back-and-forth for the opening 20 minutes. Emmanuel started things off with seven straight run that was answered with a 9-2 Suffolk stretch to that evened the score for the first, of what would be four times in the first frame. 

The Saints strung together a 14-2 spurt to take a 12-point, 23-11, advantage at the midway point. Thomas Duffy speared headed the Rams' rally back. As the senior sunk back-to-back buckets to ignited 12 consecutive points from the blue-and-gold to equalize matters at 23-all with just over six minutes to play before halftime. 

Blake Hardy made a pair of freebies to keep Emmanuel ahead, but Duffy had other things in mind as he sunk a triple to give Suffolk its first edge of the day, 26-25, at the 5:25 minute mark. 

The Saints restored the score in its favor on a Jack Moulder jumper and went up by four, 30-26, with just under three minutes to go before the intermission. 

Down the stretch, pull-up jumpers from Nate Hale and Alex Jacovides leveled the playing field at 30, before free throws from Owen Greene kept the hosts ahead by two. With four seconds left, George Grillakis picked up the pieces from Max Bonney-Liles' trey, which was off the mark, and turned that offensive carom into a game-tying hoop as time expired in the first half to send the teams into the locker room knotted at 32. 

In the first two and a half minutes out of half time the scored tied three times and the lead swapped twice before the Saints put in seven straight to go up 46-39. Jonathan Eng broke up the stretch with a three-point from the corner to trim the gap down to four five minutes into the second half.  

Out of a Suffolk timeout, Bonney-Liles buried a three of his own and followed that with one free throw to lock things up once again, this time at 46-all with 13:57 remaining. 

The Rams regained control after Hale hit a three and Bonney-Liles made a jumper. That three-point, 52-49, lead would not be enough though as a traditional three-point play by Moulder sparked a 13-5 Saints span that gave the hosts a 65-57 lead with 6:06 to go. 

For every bucket Suffolk made over the next handful of minutes, Emmanuel had an answer to hold onto the lead and extend it to as many as 12 with just under three minutes to play. 

That double-digit distance was too much for the Rams to make up and the Saints went on to take the victory.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Bonney-Liles registered 20 points on an 8-for-16 showing from the floor, which included a 3-for-7 effort from downtown. He grabbed three boards and dished out two dimes.
• Duffy supplied 13 points off the bench. He handed out six assists and had four caroms. 
• William Rowe registered nine points, six boards and one helper. 
• Brendan Mulson and Hale each had eight points. 
• Suffolk shot just 36.6 percent (27-74) from the field, 30.0 percent (9-30) from three-point land and 69.2 percent (9-13) at the line. 
• Emmanuel outrebounded the Rams, 44-41. 

NOTEWORHTY

• Bonney-Liles had his third 20-plus point game of his career. 

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Suffolk takes the weekend off before trekking up to Norwich Wednesday, Feb. 12 for a 6:30 p.m. clash with the Cadets.