Men’s Basketball Moves into First Place in the GNAC, Defeats Emmanuel, 90-81

BOSTON – Four different Rams produced double figures to help the Suffolk men's basketball take down Boston and GNAC rival Emmanuel, 90-81, Tuesday night inside Regan Gymnasium. With the win, Suffolk slides into first-place in the conference standings. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 90 | Emmanuel 81
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-6, 6-1 GNAC) | Emmanuel (15-6, 6-2 GNAC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
After a pair of lead changes, Connor Byrne secured the advantage for Suffolk once again and Alex Jacovides sandwiched a pair of triples around a Saints' timeout to push its edge to 18-11 early on.  

Emmanuel sliced the margin bac to two before Michael Hagopian and Thomas Duffy coupled a pair of hoops together to rebuild a two-possession game, 22-18, in the hosts favors at the midway point.  

Suffolk heated up from there as the Rams' rattled eight unanswered points including two buckets from behind-the-arc off Hagopian's hands to gain a double-digit distance, 30-18, at the 8:09 minute mark.  

Jacovides, Duffy and Hagopian continued to pile on the points for the blue-and-gold. The trio outscored the Saints, 11-2, to stretch Suffolk's cushion to 41-22 and force Emmanuel to use its third timeout of the opening frame. 

The Rams did not cool off in the huddle, however, as Jacovides responded a Saints' Isaiah Ruffen tip in with his fourth triple of the half to make it a 20-point game in Suffolk's favor, 44-24, with 4:11 to go before the break.  

Emmanuel made a late 10-2 run to trim the deficit to 12, 48-36, at the half.  

The Saints late first frame momentum carried into the second as they pulled within seven, 59-52, within the first five minutes out of the locker room. Jacovides' sharp shooting pushed the margin back to double figures on the Rams' next possession.  

From there the blue-and-gold went ahead by as many as 14. The gap proved to not be big enough to keep Emmanuel as the visitors strung together a 13-4 spurt to make things interesting, 72-69, with 7:27 on the clock.  

Once again it was Jacovides who responded for the Rams as the junior knocked down his sixth long ball of the night. The bucket from behind-the-arc wasn't enough to hold off the Saints though as the Beantown battle kept the standing-room only crowd on the edge of its seats as it turned into a two-point Suffolk game with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.  

Steven DiPrizio went bucket-for-bucket with the Saints. The junior forward commanded the Rams' offense with turn-around jumpers in the paint and a traditional three-point play to keep the hosts in front, 83-77.  

Emmanuel used a timeout at the 2:06 minute mark to slow Suffolk down once again. Out of the huddle, the Saints pressure defense backfired as Blake Hardy fouled Jacovides when the Rams' stand-up shooter was behind-the-arc. Jacovides knocked down the three freebies to make it a nine-point gap.  

With time ticking off the clock, the Saints sent Suffolk to win things at the line and it did to take the 90-81 league decision. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Suffolk jumped out to a hot start, shooting 63.3 percent from the field (19-3) and 62.5 percent (10-16) from three-point land over the first of 20 minutes. 
• The Rams finished the night going 55.9 percent (33-59) from the floor, 50.0 percent (13-26) from beyond-the-arc and did not miss in their 11 attempts at the charity stripe, all of which came in the second stanza. 
• Jacovides anchored Suffolk's offense with a 25-point performance. The sophomore shot 7-for-12 on the day including 6-for-8 from downtown and 5-for-5 at the line. He chipped in six boards and one takeaway in a reserve effort. 
• Duffy and Hagopian each contributed 19 points. Duffy, who went 8-for-14 from the field, set-up seven shots, pulled down four caroms and two steals. 
• DiPrizio completed the foursome in double figures with 15 points to go along with four rebounds and a pair of dimes. 
• Emmanuel, who also had a quartet in double figures led by 27 from Riddick, outrebounded the Rams, 36-28.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk defeated Emmanuel in the conference and city foes' fourth straight meeting. The four wins in a row against the Saints is a first for the Rams in the all-time series, which dates back to 2002.
• The Rams improve to 5-2 against Emmanuel in the Jeff Juron era. 
• Suffolk moved to 12-24 versus Emmanuel all-time.
• The win marks Suffolk's 15th of the season, which matches last year's total victories and the most under Jeff Juron.
• With his name in the starting line-up tonight, Hagopian became the 15th player in Suffolk men's basketball history to compete in 100 games and first since Adam Chick '16 in 2016. 
• Jacovides had a career-high triples made with six and matched a personal-best 25 points.

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S AHEAD?
A trip to Nashua, New Hampshire is set for Suffolk Saturday, Feb. 9 as the Rams stop by Rivier for a 1 p.m. conference battle.