Men’s Basketball Overpowers Roger Williams in Home Finale, 81-71

BOSTON, Mass. – The Suffolk men's basketball team used a strong offensive attack in the second half to pull away from Roger Williams, 81-71, Wednesday at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 81 | Roger Williams 71
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-8, 10-7 CCC) | Roger Williams (13-9, 10-7 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Roger Williams jumped out to an early 10-2 lead, forcing Suffolk to take a timeout just over three minutes into the contest. 

Down by five moments later, John Gates drew a charge on Charles Mukweva that jump started the Rams offense. The host went on to tie the game at 21-apiece just minutes later thanks to key buckets from William Rowe, Aidan Sullivan, and Nate Hale.

Back-to-back triples from Gates sandwiched around a Suffolk timeout gave the Rams their first lead of the game, 29-27, with 5:45 left in the first half.  

Hale followed in Gates' footsteps with a trey of his own to push the blue-and-gold's distance to the largest led to that point, 34-30, with 2:45 to play before intermission.  

Using nifty passing on the offensive end of the floor, Jake Gomez and Conor Creane supplied a lay-up apiece in the waning moments of the first to send Suffolk into the break up, 38-33.  

Gomez entered off the bench with just over 15 minutes to play in the second half and made an instant impact with an offensive rebound that resulted in an open three that gave Suffolk a 56-45 boost over the visitors. On the other end of the court, the freshman forward swatted a Will MacDonald layup try, giving Sullivan an easy basket to keep momentum on the Rams side.  

With just over 12 minutes to play, Keenan Robertson jumped in front of a Nate Lopes pass and finished in transition to put the Rams up 62-47. 

From there, the Hawks flew back around a 14-2 stretch that spanned nearly five minutes and trimmed the gap down to four, 75-71, with 1:31 on the clock.  

A clutch long ball by Creane extended Suffolk's edge to seven, before the Rams sealed the deal at the free throw line.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Four Rams registered double-digit point totals.
• Hale led the offensive charge with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor. The fifth-year's player's stat line was chuck full with seven rebounds, five assists and one block. 
• Creane produced 15 points, nine of which came by the way of downtown. He shot 6-for-9 on the night including a 3-for-6 effort from behind-the-arc. 
• Sullivan notched 14 points on a 5-for-9 effort from the field to go along with five handouts, three caroms and three takeaways. 
• Robertson rounded out the Rams in double figures with 10 points. 
• Rowe had an all-around night with eight rebounds, four points, two assists and one swat. 
• Gomez chipped in eight boards, five points, three assists and one block.  
• The Rams shot 50 percent (31-62) from the field and 88.9 percent (8-9) at the charity stripe 
• Suffolk held the edge on boards, 36-32.

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk improved to 3-2 all-time against Roger Williams with the victory.
• The Rams are now 7-2 against the Hawks in Boston. 
• Suffolk improves to 3-1 versus RWU in the Jeff Juron era. 
• Gomez pulled down a personal-high eight rebounds. He also matched a career-best three helpers. 
• Creane matched a career-best in field goals made with six. 

POST-GAME PIC

COMING UP
The Rams will travel to Beverly, Massachusetts to wrap up their 2021-22 regular season on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 3 p.m. in a CCC matchup against Endicott.