Men’s Basketball Drops 68-58 Decision to Alfred at Chuck Resler Tournament

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Suffolk men's basketball team suffered a 68-58 heartbreaking loss to Alfred in the consolation contest of Rochester's Chuck Resler Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Louis Alexander Palestra. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 58, Alfred 68
RECORDS: Suffolk (0-3) | Alfred (1-2)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Alfred quickly built a 7-2 lead that blossomed to an 18-7 advantage at the midway point, forcing Suffolk to take a timeout. 

Out of the break, both teams went scoreless for nearly four minutes and the Saxons were the first to score to build onto their edge, 20-7. The Rams went on to outscore Alfred, 14-9 to end the first frame and trail by just eight points, 29-21, at halftime. 

Suffolk played catchup in the second and made it a one-point game on a good triple from Jonathan Eng with 6:36 on the clock. See-saw action ensued and the one-point margin remaing over the next three minutes, before Alfred rattled off eight consecutive points to go ahead by nine, 60-51, with just under two minutes remaining. 

In a last ditch effort the Rams took a gamble on the fouling the Saxon's, but Alfred was able to put the game away at the charity stripe, 68-58. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Michael Hagopian matched his career-high in points of 17, which he set in the 2016-17 season opener, to lead the Rams. The sophomore guard shot 7-of-16 from the field and 2-for-6 from 3-point land for the career-best total. 
• George Grillakis added a double-digit effort as a Rams' reserve with the rookie chipping in 10 points on a career-day shooting 4-of-6 from the field to go along with four boards, one assist and one takeaway. 
• Classmate Thomas Duffy led Suffolk on the boards for the second time this season and of his career with seven boards. 
• Senior Quinn McCartney also grabbed seven rebounds and added eight points for the blue and gold. 
• Collectively the Rams went 35.0 percent from the field (21-6), 27.3 percent (6-22) from behind the arc and 83.3 percent (10-12) at the line.
• For the first time this season Suffolk held the upperhand on the glass, out rebounding Alfred, 39-34. 

NOTEABLES

• The contest marked the first-ever between the Rams and Alfred. 
• Hagopian garnered all-tournament team status. 
• Six Rams matched their career-bests; Djema (rebounds, 3), Duffy (rebounds, 7), Eng (rebounds, 1), Hagopian (points, 17), Grillakis (assists, 1), Powers (rebounds, 2), and Reynolds (rebounds, 1). 
• Duffy, Eng and Querusio all set career-bests in the outing. Duffy dished out a career-high two assists with Eng (5) and Querusio (6) setting matching career-bets in points, respectively.

POST-GAME PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk opens the home portion of its scheduled Tuesday, Nov. 22 as the Rams entertain their Boston Common neighbor Emerson at 7 p.m. inside Regan Gymnasium.