Men's Basketball finishes first half with set back against Maine-Augusta

(Northfield, Vt.) The Rivier Univeristy Men's Basketball team dropped the consolation game of the 2014 Ed Hockenburry Classic this afternoon to the University of Maine-Augusta, 88-75. 

Rivier falls to 2-7 on the campaign, while Maine-Augusta improve to 3-8 with the win. 

Senior Jake Nelson (Nashua, N.H.) finished with a team-high 17 points. Freshman Andre Ruff (Lowell, Mass.) tallied 11 points, five rebounds and a team high eight assists. Junior Cullen Donovan (Wethersfield, Conn.), freshman Tom Deveau (Lynn, Mass.), junior Kywane Thomas (Hartford, Conn.) and junior Edward Soucie (South Ryegate, Vt.) all finished with 7 points apiece. 

UMA was led by freshman Taylor Wilbur (Manchester, Maine) netted a game-best 27 points with 10 rebounds. Junior Keith Chesley (Clinton, Maine) notched his fifth double-doubles of the season with 22 points and 12 boards, while Rogers notched his sixth double-doubles with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Senior Garrett Alley (Union, Maine) pitched in with 16 points as junior Robert Foss (Augusta, Maine) tallied five points for the Moose.

Rivier took an early 37-29 lead at the break before the Moose came back in the second half, hitting 20-of-24 free throws, along with five 3-pointers, to add 59 points for the win. The Moose maintained their margin the rest of the way in the second half as Rivier never got back into the game. Rivier shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the game, but struggled to find the basket in the second half, shooting a mere 25 percent.

Maine-Augusta finished the contest hitting 37.5 percent of its shots, 53.1 percent in the second half to earn the third place honors in the tournament. Rivier shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the game, but struggled to find the basket in the second half, shooting a mere 25 percent.

Rivier will be back in action on January 3rd as they make the trip back up to Northfield, Vermont for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest with the Norwich University Cadets. 

2014 Ed Hockenbury Classic All-Tournament Team

David Lorden (Rivier)
Brandon Rogers (Maine-Augusta)
Evan Tullar (Norwich)
Alex Conaway (Trinity)
Most Outstanding Player: Shay Ajayi (Trinity)