MEN'S HOOP TEAM COMES UP SHORT AT RIVIER
Feb. 10, 2010
NASHUA, N.H.- The Emmanuel men's hoop team dropped a 75-67 decision to the Raiders of Rivier College on Tuesday night in a re-match of the overtime battle that took place in Boston on January 14th. The Saints now find themselves in a tough position with three regular season games remaining and a post-season tournament bid on the line. Rivier, which improved to 7-15 overall and 4-11 in GNAC play, took a step closer to their goal of making the playoffs. The Saints fell to 4-18 on the season and 3-12 in the league with the loss.
The Raiders put the pedal to the floor in the second half of Tuesday night's contest, as they shot 58% from the floor by getting the ball inside for easy lay-ups. The Raiders also took care of business at the free throw line, as they were able to convert 75% of their freebies, helping the hosts down the stretch. The Raider's defense also played fairly well, as they forced 18 turnovers in the game and kept the Saints to just 29% shooting from three-point land.
The Raiders got off on a fast start when they took an early 5-0 lead as Don Poitras (Bow, NH) completed an old fashion 3-point play. Emmanuel responded with a couple of layups by Xavier Everson (Rochester, NY) to bring the score to within one. The next time down for the Saints, Andre Fuller (Troy, NY) got an offensive rebound and threw it down with authority to bring the score to 8-5 with just over 16 minutes to go.
After another layup by Everson, Brian Troy (Keene, NH) took the pass from Will Snyder (Brooklyn, NY), and hit the first 3 pointer of the game to bring the Raiders within 3 with 10 minutes gone in the half. After the teams went back and forth, Eric Spanbauer (Niagara Falls, NY) had another bucket inside to extend the Saints largest lead of the game to 10 with 7 minutes to go in the half. With the half coming to an end, the Raiders caught fire, as they went on a 16-2 run to take a 31-24 lead. The Saints were able to bring the score to 31-28 after a couple of lay-ups by Connor Morgan (Chepachet, RI) and Spanbauer to end the half.
Michael Mailhot (Norwich, CT) started off the half for the Saints with a three-ball and a couple of free throws to take a 33-31 lead. Senior Luke Brownell (Hubbardston, MA) tied it back up with a jumper from the elbow. As the teams went back and forth, the Raiders went on a 13 to 5 run to go up 54-45 for their largest lead in the game with about 8 minutes to go.
After a triple from Bean to take a 12 point lead, Mailhot responded with a trey of his own to bring the Saints within 9 points with 6 minutes left. With just under two and a half minutes to go, Poitras hit a baby hook over Spanbauer to bring the lead back to 12 points. The Raiders hit 9 of their last 12 free throws to seal the game with a final score of 75-67.
Poitras had a solid game on the offensive side as he went 9-16 from the floor for a total of 22 points and collected 6 rebounds as he had to sit out a good chunk of time in the second half due an injury. Troy kept his strong freshman campaign going as he put in 18 points on the night by going 5-10 from the floor and went 6-6 from the free throw line. Bean also had a nice all around game as he put in 15 points and dished out 3 assists.
The Saints were led by Everson with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists on the night. Mailhot went 3-5 from behind the arc and had a total of 13 points for Emmanuel. Connor Morgan had a solid night for the Saints by scoring 11 points and grabbing 5 boards.
The Saints will play next on Saturday, when Emmanuel hosts the Lions of Emerson College in a 1pm start.