Men's Basketball: Givens, Raiders top Saint Joseph's 60-57

(Standish, Maine) The Rivier University Men's Basketball team snapped their 19-game losing streak as they defeated Saint Joseph's College (Maine) this evening, 60-57 at the Alfond Center in Standish, Maine. The win also marks the first Great Northeast Athletic Conference victory of the season for first-year Head Coach Lance Bisson as the Raiders are now 2-20 overall and 1-14 in the conference. The Monks, meanwhile, fall to an even 11-11 overall and 8-7 in the GNAC.

Rivier opened the game on an 11-2 run, with eight points from freshman guard Tristian Givens (Windsor, Conn.), but Saint Joseph's posted a 12-2 scoring burst late in the half and held a 30-29 edge heading into intermission.

The Raiders led by as many as 12 points in the second stanza, but the Monks rallied with a 14-2 outbreak, capped by a pair of John Crawley (Fitchburg, Mass.) freebies, to tie the game at 50-apiece with 6:12 remaining.

The hosts claimed their first lead of the half when junior forward Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine) made it a 56-55 score off a layup with 33 seconds left. But Rivier freshman guard Joshua L'Heureux (Dracut, Mass.) nailed a three-pointer at the 12-second mark and senior forward David Lorden (Pepperell, Mass.) sank two free throws with three seconds on the clock to clinch the Raiders' first victory since November 18th.

Givens finished the night with 28 points, including knocking down 6-of-12 from beyond the arc, and seven rebounds to lead the team. Lorden ended the night with 10 points and nine rebounds while both freshmen Keith Poitier (East Hartford, Conn.) and L'Heureux totaled six points each in the win.

The Monks, who had defeated the Raiders 99-63 back on January 18th, saw Richardson-Newton net 11 points for the team-high. Sophomores Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine) and Jae Johns (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) also reached double figures as they scored ten points apiece while Crawley and Mario Nery pulled down seven rebounds to lead the team.

Both programs will be back in GNAC action on Saturday afternoon as the Raiders will travel to Mount Ida College and Saint Joseph's will be at Norwich University. Both games are set to tip-off at 1pm.