Saturday Showdown Pits Men’s Basketball at Boston, GNAC Foe Emmanuel

BOSTON – Coming off its first back-to-back wins of the season, the Suffolk men's basketball team travels to Fenway Saturday, Feb. 4 for a familiar rivalry with Boston and GNAC foe Emmanuel. Game time is set for 1 p.m.  

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LAST TIME OUT
Michael Hagopian poured in his second-straight 30-plus point game to lead a well-balanced Suffolk men's basketball team over the Raiders of Rivier Wednesday night inside Muldoon Gymnasium.     

MORE READING: Men's Basketball Soars Past Rivier, 89-62

RUNDOWN ON THE RAMS
Behind back-to-back monstrous games from Michael Hagopian, Suffolk strung together two straight wins to improve to 6-14 on the season and 5-8 against conference competition. 

In the last two games, Hagopian is averaging 35.0 ppg and leads the Rams' 65.4 ppg with 13.1 ppg overall. Fellow sophomore Steven DiPrizio also contributes 13.1 ppg with the pair's classmate, Jim Djema producing double figures with 10.1 ppg. George Grillakis adds 7.9 ppg to the offensive effort. 

DiPrizio leads Suffolk's 32.6 rpg on the glass with 8.3 boards per outing. Thomas Duffy chips in 5.4 rpg.  

SAINTS SAYINGS
Like the Rams, Emmanuel brings a win streak into Saturday. The Saints have taken down their last three opponents, defeating Anna Maria (71-66), Rivier (76-49) and St. Joseph's (Maine) (73-68). The winning ways have improved Emmanuel 6-14 on the year and 5-8 in league play, an identical record to the Rams. 

The Saints average 67.0 ppg off a below-average shooting percentage of 36.7 and even lower connection rate on the long ball of 27.9 percent. Emmanuel capitalizes on its trip to the line though, putting 68.6 percent of their opportunities in. Joe Tamburro and Emmett Riddick record double digits in points with the former totaling 12.0 ppg and the latter contributing 11.5 ppg. 

Emmanuel brings down 39.3 caroms pet outing and is being outrebounded by its opponents by a 3.2 margin. Aidan Hadley leads the way on the glass with 6.7 rpg with Matt Raine adding 5.2 rpg to the effort. 

WE MEET AGAIN
The Suffolk men's basketball team put a complete game together to take down crosstown and GNAC rival Emmanuel, 80-69, inside Regan Gymnasium Jan. 5.  

MORE READING: Men's Basketball Silences Emmanuel, 80-69

THE SERIES
Suffolk chipped away at Emmanuel's all-time series lead (23-9) with it's ninth-ever win over the Saints Jan. 9. The Rams will go for the regular-season series sweep Saturday for the first time since 2002.  

EYES ON THE GAME

30-POINTS AND 10 YEARS AGO
Michael Hagopian followed up his 34-point performance versus Anna Maria Jan. 28 with a 36-point output at Rivier Feb. 1 to be the first player in over a decade to secure back-to-back 30-plus point outings. The sophomore from Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first player in blue-and-gold to accomplish the feat since John Murphy '07 did so at Johnson & Wales (Jan. 17, W, 97-91 2OT) and Daniel Webster (Jan. 20, L, 89-88 OT). Hagopian need just nearly 30 minutes to notch his 30-plus points, while Murphy racked up 39 and 30 points, respectively, in double overtime against the Wildcats and one extra session versus the Eagles. 

Hagopian, who set the most points by a Ram in the Jeff Juron era with his 34-point performance versus the AMCATS, displaced his own record just five days later. The 36 points are the most by a Ram since Sam Nwadike recorded 39 in a thrilling 84-82 Suffolk win over Anna Maria, Dec. 4, 2014. He is also the first player to notch 30 points in an outing since Nwadike registered 30 in a 79-64 setback to Emerson Jan. 4, 2015. Hagopian's two 30-point games in one season is the most by a Ram since Nwadike matched that number in 2013-14.    

ROOKIE REMARKS
For back-to-back weeks Dec. 5 and 12, Thomas Duffy earned GNAC Corvias Rookie of the Week honors. 

MORE READING:  Duffy Named GNAC Corvias Rookie of the Week |Duffy Grabs Second Straight GNAC Corvias Rookie of the Week

SUFFOLK FREE RADIO
Suffolk Athletics has teamed up with Suffolk Free Radio to bring Ram Nation live broadcast events this year including multiple home and away women's basketball contests.

The pre-game shows are set to launch 15 minutes prior to tip-off of all contests and fans can follow along at mixlr.com/suffolkfreeradio/.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk will be back in the friendly confines of Regan Gymnasium Tuesday, Feb. 7 when Lasell stops by for a 7 p.m. tip-off.