Men’s Basketball Holds Off Maine Farmington in Season Opener, 78-75

BOSTON – Suffolk men's basketball pulled the curtain back on its 79th season in the win column as it edged Maine Farmington 78-75 Saturday afternoon at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court. The trio of Keenan Robertson, Nick Verdile and Danny Yardemian all produced double figures in scoring to pace the Rams to victory. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 78 | UMaine Farmington 54
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-0) | UMaine Farmington (0-1)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Beavers broke out to an early lead in the first five minutes, 7-6. Robertson converted a trip to the free throw line into two points to give the Rams the go-ahead, 8-7. 

From there, the lead flipped flopped six times and tied six with the last coming at 29-all. A quick 6-2 Suffolk stretch that saw a pair of buckets from Yardemain and one by Robertson gave the blue-and-gold a five-point cushion, 35-30, with 3:54 left in the opening half.  

Four quick points by Maine Farmington trimmed the edge back to one, 35-34, at the 3:05 mark. Suffolk controlled the tempo the rest of the way, outscoring the Beavers 7-2 to take a 42-36 lead into the locker room.  

Slowly Suffolk stretched its advantage to double figures, 55-44, six minutes into second stanza. 

The Rams maintained the double figure margin and stretched it to as many as 15, 68-53, with 6:18 to go.

The 10-point gap remained until there were less than four minutes to play when Maine Farmington started to battle back. The visitors chipped the distance down to two, twice, with the last at 75-73 with 23 seconds on the clock.  

Thankfully, Yardemian sunk a pair of freebies and Robertson connected on the front end of a two-shot trip to the line to seal the victory for Suffolk. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Robertson registered a game-high 22 points on a 7-for-16 conversion rate from the floor and a 7-for-10 showing from the free lone line. The senior forward pulled down eight boards and dished out two helpers. 
• Verdile contributed 19 points behind a 6-for-12 showing from downtown. He also grabbed one rebound. 
• Yardemians upplied 16 points, eight handouts, four boards, one block and one steal. 
• Cole LeVangie added six points and six rebounds. 
• Jake Gomez added nine caroms, four points, one assist and one takeaway. 
• Suffolk shot 40.0 percent (28-70) on the afternoon and 31.0 percent (9-29) from behind-the-arc.
• The Rams won the battle on the board, 46-36.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk won its eighth straight season opener to move to 28-29 in game one dating back to 1967-68. 
• The blue-and-gold is now 8-2 in the season debut in the Jeff Juron era. 
• The Rams began their season at home for the first time since 2022-23. 
• Suffolk is now 8-4 at home dating back to 1967-68.
• Suffolk and Maine Farmington met for the second time, first since Nov. 18, 2018. 
• The Rams hosted the Beavers for the first time. 
• Suffolk defeated UMF for the first time to level the series at 1-1. 
• A decision between the Rams and Beavers was determined in regulation for the first time. 
• Verdile logged a personal-best in points (19) and 3-pointers made (6). 
• Yardemian produced a career-high eight assists. 
• Matt Draheim recorded a personal-best in points (5), field goals made (2), rebounds (3) and assists (1). 
• Connor Strickland notched a career-high three assists, two rebounds and one block. 
• Owen Walters tallied a personal-best two steals.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk hits the road for the first time this season Tuesday, Nov. 12 when it travels to Salem State for a 5:00 p.m.