Men’s Basketball Slips in CNE Semis at Western New England, 77-58

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Multiple comeback efforts by the third-seeded Rams came up short as Suffolk men's basketball fell to second seed Western New England 77-58 in the Conference of New England (CNE) Semifinals Friday night at Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 58 | Western New England 77
RECORDS: Suffolk (16-11) | Western New England (21-5)  

HOW IT HAPPENED

• It was a defensive game as things remained deadlocked at 5-all at the first media timeout. 
• The longball factored into things as Declan Davis knocked one down behind-the-arc and Nick Verdile buried back-to-back treys to give the Rams a 14-10 lead at the 13:28. 
• The Rams offense went scoreless for over seven minutes, which allowed the Golden Bears to flip the script in their favor, 20-14, with just under six to play in the first half. 
• Hatcher Nordquist swished a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to end the blue-and-gold's scoring lull and pull Suffolk with one possession, 20-17, with 5:12 on the clock. 
• Back-and-forth action that saw WNE outscore Suffolk, 10-6, over the final four minutes of the first half sent the Rams into the locker room trailing by double digits, 30-20.
• The Golden Bears knocked down two quick hoops out of the locker room, which stretched the gap to 15, and caused Jeff Juron to use a timeout with 1:35 removed from the second half. 
• The huddle did not help much as WNE continued to click offensively and Suffolk found itself down 19, 41-22, at the under 16 media of the second stanza. 
• This time, Suffolk found its grove in the break as Harrison Neil and Verdile poured in hoops from downtown to cut the margin back to 13, 41-28, at the 15:03 mark. 
• See-saw action actions consumed the next three minutes and the sharpshooting of Neil kept the blue-and-gold in the game. The junior knocked down two more treys to make it an 11-point game as the whistle for the under 12 media sounded. 
• Another burst from the blue-and-gold came after Verdile and Connor Strickland converted consecutive lay-ins to trim the deficit to 10, 56-46, with 8:32.  
• That was short lived as Western New England once again pushed its cushion to as many as 17, 62-59, with 3:30 to go. 
• One final Rams run came via a 6-2 spurt behind three points by James Jones and Verdile, respectively, to get within 13, 71-58. That's as close as Suffolk would get the rest of the way as the Golden Bears hung on for the victory. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Verdile finished with 20 points behind a 50.0 conversion rate from the floor (6-12) and 3-point land (5-10). He added two assists. 
• Jones contributed 12 points, eight steals, seven rebounds and one helper. 
• Nordquist notched 10 points, four dimes and three boards. 
• Neil logged nine points, all on 3-pointers and all in the second half. The junior's stat line featured four rebounds and two assists as well. 
• Both teams scored 12 points off turnovers. 
• The Golden Bears controlled the glass, 43-27. 

NOTEWORTHY

• The Rams competed in a league semifinal for the third straight season, a first in program history. 
• Suffolk wrapped up its 21st overall, 13th straight and fifth CNE postseason run. 
• The Rams competed in the CNE postseason as the third seed for the second time overall and in as many seasons. 
• As the third seed, the Rams are now 3-2 in CNE postseason action. 
• The Rams moved to 3-5 in a conference semifinal including a 2-2 CNE semifinals mark.
• All four of the blue-and-gold's CNE semis appearances came on the road. 
• Suffolk is now 6-5 in the CNE Tournament. 
• Under Juron's guidance, Suffolk is 7-9 in the postseason including a 6-5 ledger in the CNE Tourney. 
• Suffolk met WNE int eh CNE Tournament for the third time overall and in as many years. 
• The Rams are 1-5 in conference postseason contests versus the Golden Bears including a 1-2 CNE postseason ledger against WNE. 
• Jones had a career-high eight steals.