BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel Men's Basketball Team dropped a 70-59 decision to the visiting Raiders of Rivier College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) battle played in the Jean Yawkey Center on Tuesday night. With the win, the Raiders improve to 12-9 overall and .500 at 7-7 in the league. Emmanuel fell to 6-16 on the season and 5-10 in the league with the loss.
Tyrone Buchanan (Detroit, Mich.) returned to action after a two-hiatus due to an injury. The senior forward came off the bench just three minutes into the action and immediately knocked down a mid-range jumper on his first possession, as Emmanuel trailed 5-2. Senior center Don Poitras (Bow, N.H.) rattled off six points for Rivier and the Raiders led 9-4 at the 15-minute mark. Poitras picked up his second foul early on and was forced to take a seat.
The Saints chipped away at the Raider lead and a three-pointer by Josh Welles (Philadelphia, Pa.) put Emmanuel on top, 20-18, and forced a timeout by the Raiders with under eight minutes remaining in the half. A free throw by Tom Poitras (Bow, N.H.) put the Raiders up 25-22 at the five-minute mark.
A deep three-ball by freshman guard D.J. Fazio (Methuen, Mass.) gave the Saints a 28-25 lead with 3:20 remaining in the half. The two squads traded buckets down low from T. Poitras and Isaiah Duke (Albany, N.Y.) and Emmanuel led, 32-27 at the one-minute mark. A pair of free throws by T. Poitras with 22.2 seconds left ended the half with the Saints taking a 32-29 edge into the locker room at halftime.
T. Poitras led all scorers at the break with 11 points. Sophomore guard Xavier Everson (Rochester, N.Y.) was the high-scorer for the Saints with 9 points and 5 first-half rebounds. The Saints out-rebounded the Raiders, 25-13 in the opening half, with 11 of Emmanuel's boards coming on the offensive end.
The second half opened with a 17-2 run by the visitors. Rivier's sophomore guard Cliff Celestin (Braintree, Mass.) drained a baseline three to give the Raiders a 36-34 edge with 17:10 on the clock. On Riv's ensuing possession, Nick Bean (East Longmeadow, Mass.) knocked down a trey, and then hit a runner in the lane, forcing a 30-second timeout by the Saints, as Emmanuel trailed 41-34.
Out of the timeout, Bean nailed another three and pushed the Raider lead into double-digits at the 15-minute mark (44-34). Rivier's leading scorer, D. Poitras, picked up his fourth foul with 13 minutes remaining and was forced to leave the game. The Raiders held on to the momentum, however, and an and-one by Will Snider (Brooklyn, N.Y.) gave Riv a 49-37 lead.
The Raiders owned a solid double-figure lead through the ten-minute mark.
Emmanuel applied its half-court zone trap, but got no results, as Rivier continued to find open shooters. Bean caught fire for the Raiders and his fourth tri-fecta of the half put Rivier up, 56-39.
Rookie guard Jake Nelson (Nashua, N.H.) got a nice backdoor feed and laid it in as the Raiders went up 60-43. Bean's 14th point of the half extended the Rivier lead to twenty points at 65-45, nearing the five-minute mark. Despite forcing several Raider turnovers down the stretch, the Saints were unable to overcome their deficit and Rivier held on for a 70-59 win.
Bean led all scorers with 20 points, including 18 scored in the second frame. T. Poitras added 16 for the visitors with D. Poitras notching 11.
Duke's 13 points were tops for the Saints with Everson coming in right behind him with nine. Duke also grabbed eight boards to lead the team.
Emmanuel scored 31 points off the bench compared to 12 from Rivier but the Raiders won the battle in points off turnovers with a 17-13 margin.
The Saints will next play this Saturday at Emerson at noon.