Men’s Basketball Tripped Up by No. 3 Trinity, 70-56

HARTFORD, Conn. – Suffolk men's basketball saw its four-game win streak end at the hands of No. 3 Trinity, 70-56, in the championship game of the Trinity Holiday Tournament Tuesday afternoon at Stan Ogrodink Court in Ray Oosting Gymnasium.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 56 | No. 3 Trinity 70
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-3) | No. 3 Trinity (11-0) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk's scoring was sporadic and multiple minute-long scoring lulls allowed the Bantams to build a 13-point, 25-12, cushion with 6:05 left in the first frame.  

The Rams put together a comeback in the final two minutes with an 8-3 run that featured triples from Cole LeVangieand Nick Verdile to cut the deficit to eight, 30-22, when the teams went to the locker room. 

Suffolk burst into the second stanza and poured in seven unanswered points to trim the gap down to one, 30-29. That half-opening run featured two points apiece from Jake Gomez and Keenan Robertson and a trey from Verdile, his second of the day. 

Verdile stayed hot from downtown as the sophomore sunk two more bucket from behind-the-arc to keep it a one-possession game, 38-35, at the 14:08 mark.   

Danny Yardemian and Devin Dzikas joined the shooting show from downtown and a two-point game remained with 10:56 left in regulation.  

Over the next minute, Trinity went on a 10-2 run to put the blue-and-gold in a double-digit hole, 53-43.  

Verdile's fifth triple of the day got margin back to single digits, 59-50, with 5:44 to play.  

The teams traded points in the next two minutes before the Bantams put up five quick points to take their largest lead of the day, 68-54, with 2:30 left on the clock. 

That 14-point margin remained at the final whistle as buckets were exchanged down the stretch.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Verdile finished with 15 points on a 5-for-10 showing from the field, all of which was beyond-the-arc. He added two assists, one block and one rebound. 
• Robertson also had 15 points to go along with eight boards, two helpers and one swat. 
• Yardemian had an all-around outing with nine points, five caroms, five helpers and one takeaway. 
• Gomez chipped in eight points on a 4-for-8 effort from the field to go along with six rebounds, one blokc and one assist. 
• Both teams scored 15 points off turnovers.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk renewed a rivalry with Trinity, meeting for the first time since Jan. 23, 1999.
• Yardemian was named to the all-tournament team. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk returns to Conference of New England (CNE) competition Saturday, Jan. 4 when it travels to Roger Williams for a 3:00 p.m. matchup.