By Lauren Spencer

The Suffolk University men’s basketball team has fallen short in two of their first three games this season, but head coach Adam Nelson is looking up.

Tuesday night the Rams traveled to Daniel Webster College, falling to the Eagles 90-88 in the game’s final seconds.

Senior Sam Nwadike led the Rams in the first two matchups, netting 21 points against Fitchburg State, followed by a 26-point performance on Sunday, and another 23 points Tuesday night.

Since transferring to Suffolk his junior year, Nwadike has proven to be a big addition to the Rams and a player Nelson said the team will rely on a lot this season.

“Sam for the last two years has really been kind of our go-to-guy,” Nelson said. “When we need a big basket we’re going to go to him. He’s also a very good distributor, he shares the ball, and he’s a very good defender, so he really does a lot for us. I think he’s going to have a very good senior season.”

Junior Curtis Casella has also put on a strong showing for the Rams so far this season. Coming off the bench against Lesley, the 5-foot-10 guard contributed 19 points to the victory, 15 of which were 3-point shots, as well as two rebounds.

Tuesday night at Daniel Webster he added a team-high 24 points in addition to three assists.

“Curtis has gotten better and better every day since he’s been here,” said Nelson. “He’s always been a really good player and he’s just getting better. He gives us such a spark off the bench and he shoots the ball as a well as anybody at this level.”

Junior forward Adam Chick also added 11 points to Tuesday night’s efforts as junior Jake Meister was right behind him netting 10. The team had nine fewer rebounds than the Eagles.

The Rams split a pair of games last weekend at the RWU/Courtyard Marriot Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Roger Williams University. They opened the regular season with a loss to a talented Fitchburg State team, 86-61, on Saturday before bouncing back to defeat Lesley University by 19 points in a convincing 83-64 victory Sunday.

“We knew it was a very good tournament,” Nelson said.

“There were some real strong teams down there. We actually played pretty well [against Fitchburg], it was a 10-point game with 10 minutes to go, but it was a good game, we learned some things about our team, came out big the next day and put it on Lesley pretty good.”

The Rams look to prepare for what Nelson predicts to be a challenging upcoming schedule during the remainder of the week, as they will travel to UMass Boston this Thursday before hosting Wheaton College Saturday afternoon.

“We play a tough schedule, a real tough non-conference schedule, and basketball wise we’re in one of the best conferences in New England,” Nelson said. “I don’t know what to expect yet, I’m still cautiously optimistic, we’ve got a good group, we play hard, and we’ve had some injuries which have hurt us so we’re still trying to figure it out, but I think we’ll be okay.”