Big Men help Raiders advance to Tip-Off Tournament Finals

(Nashua, NH) The Rivier University Men's Basketball team, fresh off their thrilling 68-62 midnight win over Daniel Webster yesterday, used a 44 point first half en route to an 87-36 victory over Sarah Lawrence College in the opening round of the 2012 Rivier/Coca-Cola Tip-Off Tournament.

Junior Tom Poitras (Bow, NH) and freshman Richard Belding (Wilmington, MA) scored 13 points each to pace the offense as 11 other Raiders recorded points. Freshman Brendon Moran (Peabody, MA) added 10 points off the bench and collected a team high 5 rebounds.

Sarah Lawrence (0-1) was led by Greg Smith who had 11 points – including a 3-for-6 performance from beyond the arc. Francis Oppong added 8 points along with John Collector.

Rivier (2-0) out rebounded the Gryphons 27-21 and also outshot them 63% to 29.5%. Both Belding and Poitras went 6-for-7 from the floor in the victory.

The Raiders will advance to the 2012 Rivier/Coca-Cola Tip-Off Tournament tomorrow at 2pm to face Endicott College. Endicott defeated Framingham State in the other semi-final game this evening. Framingham State and Sarah Lawrence will tip off in the Third-Place game at 12pm.