The Suffolk University men’s basketball team’s season came to an end last Thursday as they fell to Nichols College in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Coast Conference playoffs.
The fourth-seeded Rams lost the tight 86-87 contest to the four time defending CCC champion Bison’s in a high energy matchup at the Nichols College Athletics center.
The Rams got out to an early lead in the game, leading by as many as 13. Suffolk was led by their star guard Nate Hale, who led the team in points in the contest. The animated Hale put on a show in the packed gymnasium as he exchanged trash talk with the Nichols’ fans.
Suffolk kept Nichols at bay heading towards half, where they took a 42-34 lead into the locker room.
The Ram’s seemed to be determined to keep the pedal down coming out of the half, building their lead back up to 13.
The Bison however began to claw back in the contest as they began to make up ground with a series of big shots, energizing the rowdy home crowd.
“I loved every second about it,” team captain Aidan Sullivan said. “It felt like us against the world at that moment.”
With around 11 minutes left in the game, the Bison’s tied the game with a free throw.
The Rams and Bison went shot for shot until the Bison began to pull away with about 3 minutes left in the contest but Suffolk was able to inch back in the waning minutes as the both teams went to the line for tense late game free throws.
The Rams entered the final 11 seconds of the game needing a three to extend the game to overtime.
Coming out of a timeout and a made Nichols free throw the Rams drove down the court looking for a shot to extend the game to overtime.
The Rams struggled to get a shot off until Aidan Sullivan got the ball to Jake Gomez for a free throw to make it a one point game.
The Rams failed to get a steal as the Bison successfully inbound the ball to ice the game.
The Rams ended their first full season in the CCC with a 16-10 overall record and a 10-8 conference record. Nichols went on to win their fifth straight CCC championship title over Salve Regina Saturday.
“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this group,” Sullivan said.
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