Rams Best Men's Basketball, 84-82

PAXTON, Mass.—Senior Sam Nwadike (Houston, Texas) scored a game-high 39 points to lead the Suffolk University men's basketball team to an 84-82 road victory against the AMCATS of Anna Maria College on Thursday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

With the loss, the AMCATS fall to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in GNAC play, while the win boosts the Rams to 4-4 overall and a perfect 2-0 in league competition.

Anna Maria had four players score in double-figures, paced by Patrick Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) with 18 points. Junior Tyler Delorey (Worcester, Mass.) scored 15 points of the bench, while graduate student Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) netted a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Youssef Fodaile (Worcester, Mass.) also reached double-figures with 10 points.

Nwadike tallied his 39 points on a 12-22 effort from the floor with a three-pointer, and a 14-19 performance from the free-throw line. He also tallied eight rebounds and four steals in the complete-game effort. The Rams also saw double-digit scoring from Quinn McCartney (LaCrosse, Wis.) with 13 points and 10 points each from Matt Duquette (Swampscott, Mass.) and Caleb Unni (Winchester, Mass.).

Neither team held more than a seven-point lead in the contest which saw 15 lead changes and 13 ties. Both teams traded the lead throughout the first half, but Suffolk took a four-point advantage with 2:09 left to play in the first half at 38-34 to take a two-possession lead. Anna Maria's Delorey hit a three-pointer with 38 seconds left to set the 38-37 halftime score.

The teams quickly raced to a 48-48 tie in the second half at the 14:59 mark, but Suffolk responded with back-to-back scores to take a five-point lead at 53-48. The AMCATS would creep back again and take a 62-60 lead on a layup by Corey Pryor (Whitinsville, Mass.) at the nine-minute mark. Delorey hit a jump shot on the team's next possession to give the AMCATS their largest lead of the day at 64-60.

Anna Maria controlled the lead until the 6:49 mark, when Nwadike hit a layup to tie the score at 65-65. The AMCATS briefly regained control at 69-68 following another layup by Pryor with 5:39 left to play, but Nwadike struck again seconds later to reclaim the lead.

Michael Gorman gave the AMCATS one last chance to hold control, netting a layup at 4:49 to put Anna Maria up 71-70, but it would be the last time the AMCATS led as McCartney and Unni combined for three-straight free-throws to take a two-point lead.

Following a free-throw by Anna Maria's Trevon Farley (Lawrence, Mass.), the Rams scored the next six points to take a seven-point lead, 79-72, with 2:17 left to play. Farley converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Franklin hit a layup to bring the AMCATS back within a bucket with 1:33 still to play, a foul by Farley put McCartney on the line, where he hit one of two to make it a three-point game at 80-77.

With the shot clock running down on the AMCATS ensuing possession, Bradanese was forced to throw up a shot, which was blocked by McCartney and rebounded by Nwadike, who sprinted down for a fast break layup, was fouled, and converted the extra point for the six-point lead.

Bradanese hit a layup and Franklin drained a deep three-pointer with three seconds left, but their efforts fell short and Suffolk claimed the 84-82 win.

Suffolk's success was due in part to 21 offensive rebounds, on which they tallied 24 second-chance points. Anna Maria recorded just nine offensive boards, and trailed Suffolk 42-36 in total rebounds. Suffolk also held advantages in points off turnovers (18-11), while the AMCATS bested the Rams in bench points (32-18), points in the paint (46-36), and fast break points (8-2).

The AMCATS are idle until January 2, 2015, when they take on Wheaton (Mass.) in the Wesleyan Red and Black Tournament. Suffolk hosts No. 16 Albertus Magnus on Saturday to wrap up the semester.