Pride Men’s Hoop Unable to Rally Against Suffolk

WESTON, Mass. – Regis College put together a rally in the second half, but it was not enough as Suffolk University held on for a 68-56 victory Saturday afternoon in a non-conference men's collegiate basketball game at Higgins Court.

Devante Thompson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) led the Pride in scoring, tying his career high with 16 points. Marc Trinidad (Bronx, N.Y.) notched his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Cam Wilkins (Taunton, Mass.) contributed 10 points and six rebounds.

Jonathan Eng (Wayland, Mass.) hit a three-pointer for Suffolk 40 seconds into the game, beginning an 8-2 Ram scoring run that started the visitors on the wire-to-wire victory.  After the Pride closed to within four at 19-15 on a layup by Wilkins, Suffolk rattled off seven unanswered points, punctuated by a dunk from William Rowe (Reston, Va.), to extend its lead into double digits at 26-15.

Wilkins converted on a traditional three-point play, but the Rams quickly responded with nine straight points to open a 35-18 advantage. The Rams would reach their largest lead of the game three minutes into the second half at 42-22 thanks to Eng's second three-pointer of the game and a layup by Rowe.

Jalen Watson (Woonsocket, R.I.) started a 7-0 Pride scoring stretch with a three-pointer, but Suffolk would later reestablish a 19-point lead on layups by Jarret Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) and Max Bonney-Liles (Hudson, N.H.). Regis scored 11 unanswered points over the next three minutes, featuring three-pointers by Thompson and Justin Evelyn (Uniondale, N.Y.) to close to within eight, but a three-pointer by Nate Hale (Nashua, N.H.) with four minutes remaining in the second half seemingly put the game away for the Rams.

Hale led the Rams with 16 points, while Brendan Mulson (Albany, N.Y.) finished with 14 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. Rowe added 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals as Suffolk shot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the field, including 5-of-15 from behind the three-point line, and 84.6 percent (11-of-13) from the free throw line.

As a team, the Pride shot 31.6 percent (18-of-57) from the field, including 5-of-21 from behind the three-point line, and 68.2 percent (15-of-22) from the free throw line. Regis committed a season-low 11 turnovers, plus it scored 16 points off 16 Suffolk turnovers, but the Rams dominated the rebounding battle, 41-29.

Suffolk (5-3) heads to Roger Williams for a game Tuesday, Dec. 10, starting at 6 p.m. before closing out the 2019 portion of its schedule at home against UMass Boston next Saturday, Dec. 14, beginning at 1 p.m.

Regis (1-6) is off until Monday, Dec. 30, when the Pride will travel to Hartford, Conn., for the Trinity Holiday Invitational, facing the host Bantams on the first day at 5 p.m. before taking on either Babson or Eastern Connecticut State Tuesday, Dec. 31.