Men’s Basketball Bests Nichols, 87-70

DUDLEY, Mass. – Behind a pair of 20-plus point performances from freshman James Jones and Hatcher Nordquist, Suffolk men's basketball defeated Nichols, 87-70, in Conference of New England (CNE) play at Nichols Athletic Center Saturday. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 87 | Nichols 70
RECORDS: Suffolk (13-9, 9-4 CNE) | Nichols (12-10, 7-6 CNE)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Down 10-4 4:02 into the action, Suffolk rallied around 22 unanswered points to surge ahead 23-10 at the midway point of the first half when Nichols used its second timeout of the afternoon. Nordquist sparked the run and had seven points over the stretch that saw six apiece from Declan Davis and Greg Keane. 
• The Bison ended their scoring lull with a bucket out of the huddle, but the Rams responded with six straight points to take a 20-point cushion, 32-12, with 8:53 left in the first frame. 
• Nichols used a 12-5 run to cut the blue-and-gold's advantage to 13, 37-24, with 1:41 to go before half time.  
• Suffolk closed out the first 20 minutes with a 5-1 rally to take a 42-25 cushion into the break. 
• The Rams lengthened their lead to 25, 50-25, in the first 2:42 of the second half. 
• That 20-plus point gap slowly shrunk to 11, 64-53, with 7:43 on the clock. 
• The blue-and-gold used an 8-1 spurt that was bookend by treys by Nick Verdile to push its lead back to 18, 72-54, at the 4:53 mark. 
• Nichols continuously kept pressure up and chipped away at the deficit and cut it as low as a dozen, 80-68, with 2:37 remaining in regulation. 
• Suffolk took care of business at the free throw line to lock up the win. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Nordquist notched a game-high 25 points on an 8-for-17 conversion rate from the floor that included a 3-for-6 showing from down. He was one rebound shy of a double-double with nine caroms to his credit to go along with two assists and two steals. 
• Jones registered a 22-point, 10-rebound double-double with three helpers. 
• Davis added a 14-point spark off the bench. The junior shot 5-for-7 on the afternoon including a 4-for-5 showing from behind-the-arc. He added three boards and one dime. 
• Verdile tallied nine points, four handouts and one board. 
• Greg Keane had an all-around effort of eight points, six rebounds, three assists, three swats and one takeaway. 
• Suffolk held an edge on the glass, 45-41. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and Nichols met for the 60th time. 
• The Rams defeated the Bison for the third straight meeting to move to 40-20 in the all-time series. 
• The blue-and-gold is now 15-10 versus the Bison in Dudley. 
• Suffolk moved to 5-7 against Nichols under Jeff Juron's guidance. 
• Jones had his fourth double-double of the season. He matched a personal-best 22 points.
• Nordquist recorded a career-high in points (25) and field goals made (8) and matched a career-best nine boards. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is back in Boston next Saturday, Feb. 14 for a Senior Day celebration against the University of New England at 2:00 p.m.