Raiders fall at the buzzer to Daniel Webster

(Nashua, NH) Junior Garon Whitney's (Dover, NH) shot at the buzzer hit the front of the rim as the Raiders dropped a non-conference game to Daniel Webster College tonight, 67-65.

The atmosphere inside the Muldoon Gymnasium matched the competitiveness of the game as the Raiders battled from 12 points down with less than 5 minutes to play to cut the deficit to just one.

The teams battled back-and-forth throughout the first half as Daniel Webster held a 31-30 lead before Justin Leandowski drilled a three from the corner to give the Eagles a 34-30 halftime lead.

In the second half, Daniel Webster pushed the lead to 12 with a 14-2 run over a span of 6.5 minutes. However Rivier did not quit. Over the final 5.5 minutes of action the Raiders went on a 16-6 run and fell just two points shy of the victory.

Sophomore Tom Poitras (Bow, NH) was the leading scorer for Rivier as he recorded 20 points; 14 of which came in the second half. Junior Cliff Celestin (Boston, MA) added 11 points while fellow classmate Chris Foley (Oakham, MA) chipped in with 9. Whitney had a solid night for Rivier as he contributed with 7 points in his 21 minutes of action. His biggest shot of the night came with just 39 seconds left to bring the Raiders within one point.

Poitras also pulled down 11 rebounds as he was the only player with a double-double in the game.

For Daniel Webster, Keith Speed led the way in the second stanza with 12 of his team high 15 points. Daris Cosby added 14 points for the Eagles while both Dave Schindewolf and Eric Suarez each had double digit efforts with 12 and 10 points respectively.

The Raiders will return to action as they host GNAC newcomer, Anna Maria College in a 1pm game on Saturday afternoon.