Three-Point Shooting Sends UMass Boston Over Men’s Basketball, 85-69

BOSTON – Suffolk men's basketball dropped a Beantown battle to UMass Boston Saturday afternoon as the Beacons' fineness from three-point land was enough to spoil the Rams' first-semester finale, 85-69, at the Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 69 | UMass Boston 85
RECORDS:Suffolk (5-5) | UMass Boston (6-3)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk scores the first seven points of the day, which forced UMass Boston to use a timeout three minutes into the outing. Out of the huddles, both sides went scoreless over the next 1:17 before the Beacons put in seven unanswered points of their own to lock things at 7-all at the 13:17 minute mark.  

From there, for every hoop the Rams put in, UMass mirrored it to keep matters close, 12-11, at the midway point.

Michael Boyd converted a traditional three-point play to put the Beacons in front and Malik Lorquet connected on one freebie to gain a three-point edge, but Nate Hale's triple from the top of the keep evened the battle at 15-all with just under 10 minutes to go in the opening half.  

The Beacons burst out on a 9-2 run that put seven points between themselves and the blue-and-gold with that distance growing to double figures, 31-21, when Charles Mitchell knocked down a triple with 4:13 to play before half time.  

Suffolk looked to respond down the stretch, but for every bucket the Rams managed to put in, the Beacons scored one of their own to hold a 14-point, 42-28, cushion at intermission.  

In the first 10 minutes of the second half Suffolk slowly chipped away at the margin. An 8-2 Rams' run that was capped off by a foul line jumper by Connor Byrne that sliced the distance to five, 52-47, 8:28 into the second stanza. 

UMass passed around Suffolk's 2-3 zone defense to double the distance the Rams just made up and the hosts found themselves down 14 once again with just under eight minutes remaining. 

Sharp shooting from downtown built the Beacons advantage to as many as 15, a margin that stood at the 3:45 minute mark before Jonathan Eng converted a steal into a layup to spark's Suffolk's last comeback attempt. The Rams rally never came, however, as UMass used the clock and maintained the margin to hold on for the non-conference victory.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Jacovides notched a team-high 19 points on a 6-for-12 showing from the field, which included a 3-for-4 mark from downtown. He grabbed five rebounds, and handed out one assist in 26 minutes off the bench. 
• Hale had 16 points with a 5-for-9 performance from the floor with a pair of triples to his credit as well to go along with two steals and one swat. 
• Max Bonney-Liles and William Rowe had near identical stat lines as the sophomores each supplied 10 points and seven caroms. The former handed out three dimes, while the latter set-up one shot and blocked one. 
• Suffolk shot just 44.4 percent (24-54) from the field, 52.9 percent (9-17) from three-point range and 85.7 percent (12-14) from the charity stripe. 
• The Rams reserves were responsible for 62.3 (43-69) percent of Suffolk's scoring. 
• The Beacons, who had a pair of players with 20-plus points in Dasan Cinelli (24) and Charles Mitchell (22) capitalized on second changes, scoring 16 on offensive rebounds, and Suffolk turnovers, converting 17 miscues into 21 points.  

POST-GAME PIC
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WHAT'S AHEAD?
Suffolk is sidelined for the next two weeks with finals and the holidays and will be back in action after the New Year when it heads to Mount Saint Mary's Thursday, Jan. 2. Tip-off in the Empire State is set for 4 p.m.