Men’s Basketball Comes Up Short Against Emerson, 78-73

BOSTON – In a battle between Boston Commons schools, the Suffolk men's basketball team came up on the wrong side of things as the Rams slipped to Emerson, 78-73, inside Regan Gymnasium Tuesday night.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 73, Emerson 78
RECORDS: Suffolk (0-4) | Emerson (2-1)

Suffolk found itself in an 11-4 hole in the opening minutes of action. After Jeff Juron used a timeout to talk things over, the Rams powered back within three, 15-12, thanks to an 8-4 run, which featured four points from Steven DiPrizio and Michael Hagopian. 

The Lions rebuilt a hefty advantage, 23-14, but the Rams responded once again thanks to Suffolk's rookies. A triple from Jonathan Eng sparked a 7-2 Rams' stretch that pulled the blue and gold within three, 25-22, with just under eight minutes to go before the break. 

Suffolk hung with Emerson and slowly chipped away at the three-point deficit before leveling the playing field with 2:44 on the clock when Jim Djema swished a trey from the top of the key. On The Rams' next possession, DiPrizio was fouled from behind the arc and sank all three freebies to reverse the roles and put Suffolk ahead by the three-point margin 39-36. 

The Lions put in a trey of their own to answer and Geoffrey Gray sank a pair from the charity stripe to send Suffolk to the locker rooms down, 41-39. 

Out of intermission, Suffolk put together a 10-2 stretch to take its largest lead of the evening, 50-45, at 15:09 in the second half. The game toggled from there, equalizing at 54-all, before the Lions roared out to a six-point cushion with 5:10 to go. 

The Rams continued to chip away at the margin and came within three with just under one minute to play as George Grillakis made an up-and-under layup, but Suffolk would not get any closers the Emerson went on to spoil the blue and gold's home opener, 78-73. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• DiPrizio had a day for the Rams as the sophomore poured in a career-high 22 points, shooting 7-of-16 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 effort at the line, and grabbed a career-best 13 rebounds, 10 on the defensive end to end the night with a double-double effort.
• Djema finished with 13 on a 5-of-9 performance from the field and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. He pitched in four assists, two rebounds and one takeaway.
• Grillakis finished the night with 11 points, four boards and two assists.
• Suffolk shot 40.9 percent from the floor, 39.1 percent from behind the arc and 81.8 percent at the line.
• The Rams were outrebounded by the Lions, 44-33.

NOTEABLES

• George Grillakis made his first collegiate start and notched a career-best two assists.
• DiPrizio recorded the first double-double of his collegiate career. He is the first Ram to accomplish the feat since Adam Chick '16 did so in the GNAC Quarterfinals last season at Lasell Feb. 23, 2016, with a 23-point, 13-rebound performance.
• Eng recorded a career-best eight points, on 2-of-3 shooting and went a perfect 2-for-2 behind the arc. The freshman matched his career-highs in rebounds (1), assists(1) and steals (1).
• Thomas Duffy notched a career-high two steals to go along with four points, four boards and one swat. 

POST-GAME PIC

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk entertains Salve Regina inside Regan Gymnasium Sunday, Nov. 27 in a 3 p.m. contest.