Men's Basketball captures first win of the season!

Story Courtesy of New England College Sports Information

HENNIKER, N.H.—Rivier College's Tom Poitras (Bow, N.H.) finished with a team-high 15 points and seven rebounds leading the Raiders past the New England College Pilgrims 72-55 in men's basketball action Tuesday evening.

The win is the first of the season for the Raiders who improve to 1-3 overall. The loss drops the Pilgrims to 0-4 on the season.

The Raiders would come out on fire bolting out to an early 20 point lead up 27-7 midway through the opening half. The Pilgrims would chip away throughout the remainder of the first, including closing out the half scoring the final four points to head into halftime down 33-19.

NEC would continue to battle cutting the lead to 11 at the 14 minute mark in the second half but that is as close as the Pilgrims would get as the Raiders would finish the game shooting an impressive 49% from the field and eventually cruising to the 72-55 victory.

Rivier's Cliff Celestin (Boston, Mass.) finished with 14 points, while Nick Walch (Dedham, Mass.) grabbed seven rebounds for the Raiders.

Leading the way for NEC was Troy Prather (Claremont, Calif.) who finished with a game-high 19 points and Ryan Schmitz (Redding, Calif.) who chipped in 12 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds.

NEC returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 29 when they travel to take on non-conference opponent Newbury College. Rivier College will hit the court on Thursday, Dec. 1 when they host in-state foe Daniel Webster College.