Men’s Basketball Comes Back to Take Down Brandeis, 71-69

WALTHAM, Mass. – Trailing by as many as 16 points, the Suffolk men's basketball team came back and used a lay-up from Brendan Mulson on a feed from Thomas Duffy with five-tenths of a second left on the clock to take a 71-69 victory over at Brandeis Wednesday night.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 71 | Brandeis 69
RECORDS: Suffolk (2-0) | Brandeis (1-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk grabbed an early 8-5 edge with all eight points belonging to sophomore Mulson. From there, the playing field leveled at 12-all and a back-and-forth affair ensued with seven lead changes. The Judges built a 25-20 lead with less than five minutes remaining behind six unanswered points, which forced Jeff Juron to take a timeout with 3:29 left on the clock.  

Steven DiPrizio converted on a lay-up out of the break, but Brandeis continued to build on its lead, going up by as mean as 13, 35-22, with less than a minute to play in the first half. A pair of freebies from Duffy ended the first set of 20 minutes to send Suffolk to the locker room down, 35-24.  

The deficit grew to as much as 16, 44-28, at the 18:15 minute mark of the second.  

Duffy started the come with a jumper as the junior's hoop started a 9-0 Suffolk spurt that sliced the margin to six, 44-39, with just under 15 minutes to play in regulation.  

Alex Jacovides hit a hoop from downtown to make it a two-possession game, but it wasn't until George Grilliaks layup nearly three minutes later that a new game was present with a 50-all ball game. 

Another minute was removed before Mulson connected on a pair of freebies to put the Rams ahead for the first time since the first half. 

Suffolk hung onto the lead and went up by five, 63-58, thanks to a jumper from Michael Hagopian with less than five minutes to play.  

Brandeis battled back though and used three freebies from Chandler Jones and a triple from Collin Sawyer to cut the Rams' edge to one, 65-64, at the 2:47 minute mark. 

The Judges gambled with the foul game and it played in their favor as Grillakis went just 1-for-2 at the line and a traditional three-point play by Eric D'Aguanno on the host's next possession flipped the switch in favor of Brandeis, 67-66.  

Duffy responded with the Rams will a lay-up of his own to regain the edge for the visitors and hit a free throw with 21 seconds left to put two points between the foes. 

Brandeis continued to keep things interesting as Layte Workman tied the game at 69 with 7 seconds on the clock before Mulson's heroics paid off as time expired.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Duffy, who spearheaded the comeback, finished the non-conference clash with 21 points on an 8-for-16 effort from the field to go with five boards, five assists and three steals. 
• Mulson joined Duffy in double figures with 17 points on a 5-for-9 showing from the floor and a 3-for-4 effort from downtown. The sophomore also recorded eight boards, two dimes and one block. 
• Hagopian had eight points, three caroms and one swat. 
• As a team, Suffolk shot 51.9 percent (28-54) from the floor and 73.3 percent from the free throw line (11-15). 
• The Rams were outrebounded by the Judges, 33-32.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk opened its slate with two victories for the first time in the Juron era and first time since winning two in a row to lift the lid on the 2010-11 calendar. 
• The Rams' strung two victories against Brandeis together for the first time in the all-time series, which is one of the oldest in Suffolk men's basketball history, dating back to 1968. 
• Suffolk moved to 7-38 all-time against the Judges and 2-2 versus Brandeis under Juron's guidance.  

POST-GAME PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk is set for the two-day Babson Invitational. The Rams will get the tournament going Saturday, Nov. 17 when it takes on Endicott at 3 p.m. The winner of that tilt will face the victor of the Babson, UMaine Farmington matchup Sunday, Nov. 18 with the losing teams squaring off in the consolation contest.