Trio Paces Men’s Basketball to 89-69 Win at Hartford

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The threesome of Cole LeVangie, Nick Verdile and Keenan Robertson combined for 60 points to lead Suffolk men's basketball to an 89-69 Conference of New England victory over Hartford Wednesday night at Chase Arena. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 89 | Hartford 69
RECORDS: Suffolk (17-7, 13-4 CNE) | Hartford (4-20, 2-15 CNE) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Down 7-5, the Rams outscored the Hawks, 12-4 to grab a 10-point advantage, 19-9, less than eight minutes into the action.

An 11-3 spurt by Hartford allowed the host to pull back within two, 22-230, before Verdile sunk back-to-back triples to length the blue-and-gold's lead back to eight, 28-20, with less than eight minutes to play before halftime. 

See-saw action allowed Hartford to remain within two possessions, 30-26, a with 6:14 to go in the first frame. 

Verdile had other things in mind as he knocked down his fifth trey of the day. From there, Robertson heated up as well with six points and LeVangie got in on the scoring action as well with a pair of buckets to help send Suffolk into the locker room ahead 11, 43-32.

Seven straight Suffolk points – a three from Verdile, his sixth of the day, and four by Robertson – helped the Rams extend their edge to 17 to get the second half underway and five minutes in the blue-and-gold saw its advantage hit 20, 59-39.

The Rams pouring in the points and stretched their cushion to as many as 27, twice, with the last at the midway mark, 74-47.

The blue-and-gold managed to maintain a comfortable margin the rest of the way as it took care of business at the charity stripe to lock up the crucial conference victory. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• LeVangie lead Suffolk's offensive output witih 21 points behind a 9-for-11 (81.8) showing from the floor that included a 3-for-5 effort from 3-point land. He added eight caroms, three assists and two steals.
• Verdile registered 20 points. The sophomore shot 6-for-9 from behind-the-arc and chipped in three caroms and two dimes.
• Robertson recorded 19 points. He shot 50.0 percent (6-12) from the field and 77.8 percent (7-9) at the foul line. The senior's stat line featured eight rebounds and two helpers as well.
• Jake Gomez and Devin Dzikas each had seven points.
• Danny Yardemian set up Suffolk's scorers with eight assists, which went along with six points of his own and four boards.
• Suffolk held a hefty advantage on the boards, 40-19.
• The Rams scored 16 points off their 13 offensive rebounds. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk remains unbeaten all-time against Hartford, 4-0.
• The Rams are now 2-0 at Hartford in the all-time series.
• The blue-and-gold has bested Hartford by 20-plus points in each of the last three meetings.
• LeVangie tied a career-high 21 points. He set a personal-best in field goals made with nine.
• Yardemian matched a career-high eight helpers. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk rides its three-game win streak into the regular season finale, a Saturday, Feb. 22 meeting with Nichols at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court at 3:00 p.m.