Men’s Basketball Wins Fourth Straight, Beats UNE, 70-55

BOSTON – Suffolk men's basketball ran its win streak to four games in a row as three different Rams produced double figures to take down Commonwealth Coast Conference foe the University of New England, 70-55, Wednesday night at Coach Beaudry's Court. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 70 | University of New England 55
RECORDS: Suffolk (10-6, 5-4 CCC) | University of New England (2-14, 0-9 CCC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk trailed 8-6 with 4:37 removed from the clock. A traditional 3-point play from Jake Gomez pushed the blue-and-gold in front, 9-8, at the 14:21 mark.  The sophomore continued to pour in the points as he put together his own 7-0 stretch to give the Rams a 13-8 edge a minute later.  

Triples from John Gates and Keenan Robertson extend the margin to a pair of possessions, 19-13, but the Nor'Easters stormed back. The host used an 8-0 run to flip the script in its favor, 21-19, at the midway point of the first half.  

The scored tied twice before a 3:41 scoring draught hit both sides to keep it a 23-all game with just under six minutes to go before the teams headed to the locker room.  

A Gomez layup regained the edge for Suffolk that closed out the opening stanza on a 17-8 stretch to go into the intermission up 40-31.  

The teams would trade hoops over the first9:06 minutes of the second stanza, which let Suffolk cling to a nine-point cushion, 50-41.  

UNE did not let up and five unanswered points made trimmed the gap down to four with plenty of time left on the clock.  

A Cole LeVangie trey ignited the Rams offensive output once again. Slowly Suffolk managed to build a 17-point margin, 70-53, with 2:19 left to play and that distance was too great for the Nor'Easters to make up.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Gomez notched a game-high 18 points on an 8-for-10 showing from the floor. He grabbed seven boards to go along with one helper, one block and one steal. 
• Aidan Sullivan notched 16 points, five set-ups and two rebounds. 
• LeVangie recorded 14 points, nine caroms and one swat. He shot 5-for-7 on the night including a 2-for-4 effort from downtown. 
• William Rowe registered nine points, five rebounds, one assist and one block. 
• As a team, Suffolk shot 54.0 percent (27-50) from the floor, just 38.9 percent (7-18) from 3-point range and 56.3 percent (9-16) from the foul line. 
• The Rams outrebounded the Nor'Easters, 41-24.
• UNE, who was led by Winston Bryan (17) in scoring, turned the Rams' 18 turnovers into 16 points. 
• Suffolk scored 36 points in the pain.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk is on a four-game win streak, the most victories in a row since it strung together seven Nov. 18-Dec. 9, 2021. 
• The Rams defeated UNE for the first time since Dec. 1, 2021, to move to 12-11 all-time versus the Nor'Easeters. 
• In Biddeford, Maine, the Rams are 7-5 against the Nor'Easters. 
• The Rams sport a 2-1 record versus UNE in the Jeff Juron era. 
• Gomez logged a personal-best 18 points on a career-best eight field-goals made.  

POST-GAME PIC
 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk looks to extend its win streak further Saturday, Jan. 21 when it welcomes Endicott to Larry E. and Michael S. Smith for a 2 p.m. CCC battle.