Whitney's dunk lifts Raiders to one point victory

NORTHFIELD, Vt.—A dunk by Garon Whitney with 16 seconds left on the clock propelled the Rivier University men's basketball team to a 51-50 road win against the Cadets of Norwich University on Thursday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

With the loss, the Cadets fall to 5-15 and 2-11 in GNAC play, while the win boosts the Raiders to 10-10 overall and 6-7 in league action.

The Raiders were led by Tom Poitras, who notched a game-high 28 points on 12-20 shooting from the floor, including 3-7 shooting from three-point range, in addition to a 1-1 effort from the free-throw line. Nick Walch chipped in with 12 points, and Whitney led the team in rebounds with 12.

The Cadets were led by twin performances of 14 points, five rebounds by senior Josh Cabrera (Providence, R.I.) and freshman Gary Gladden (Boynton Beach, Fla.). Sophomore Evan Tullar (Chelsea, Vt.) chipped in with seven points and a team-high three assists.

Down by one point, Whitney stole the ball in the backcourt with 18 seconds on the clock and nailed the uncontested dunk to put the Raiders up by a point for their first lead since the 12:28 mark. The Cadets were unable to work a shot on their last possession, and the game ended on a final Norwich turnover.

Norwich trailed for the entire first half and the first 10 minutes of the second frame, but with 9:53 on the clock the Cadets used a layup by Gladden and two free-throws by Cabrera to take a four-point lead at 40-36.

Back-to-back field goals by Poitras knotted the score for the fifth time in the contest, but the Cadets broke away again and led by six points, 50-44, with 2:16 still to play.

Poitras then took control for the Raiders, turning in an old-fashioned three-point play followed by a layup on the next possession to set Whitney up for the game-winning shot.

Rivier edged Norwich in field goal percentages on the evening, as the Raiders connected on 39.6 percent (21-53) of shots from the floor while the Cadets shot 38.3 percent (18-47) from the floor. The Cadets finished a perfect 11-11 from the foul line in comparison to Rivier's 4-7 (57.1%) effort from the charity stripe.

Rivier will host GNAC foe Albertus Magnus College in a 12:00 p.m. tip-off on Saturday in thier next scheduled contest. The Cadets return to action on Saturday as well, when they travel to Anna Maria College for a 1:00 p.m. GNAC matchup.