Men's Basketball: Rivers 15 points help lift Rivier to 86-80 win over Emmanuel

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Men's Basketball team snapped a nine-game skid as they took down visiting Emmanuel College this evening, 86-80 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Muldoon Gymnasium. The Raiders are now 2-18 overall on the season with a 1-10 record in the GNAC while the Saints fall to 2-17, 1-9 in conference play.

Rivier staved off a late Emmanuel rally as the Raiders held an 18-point lead with less than 10 minutes to play. The Saints then rattled off 23-7 run over a six-minute span to trim the deficit to just two. However Rivier was able to utilize their final possessions to hang on for the win.

Both sophomore Tristian Givens (Windsor, Conn.) and sophomore Issaiah Chappell (Sunapee, N.H.) each dropped 22-points while Givens completed the double-double with 11 rebounds. Freshman Tarik Rivers (Stamford, Conn.) also hit the double-digit mark with 15 points while collecting five dimes.

Junior Joe Tamburro (South Windsor, Conn.) was the leader for the Saints as he scored the game-high 33 points as he was the only Emmanuel student-athlete to reach double-figures. Freshman Zachary Crisafulli (Easthampton, Mass.) registered eight points and junior Isaiah Ruffen (Haverhill, Mass.) netted seven points in the loss.

Rivier outshot Emmanuel, 47.5% to 39.4% despite being out rebounded 46-34.

Next up for the Raiders will be a road trip to Norwich University on Thursday night for another GNAC contest in Northfield, Vermont. Emmanuel will also be in conference action on Thursday evening as they host Anna Maria at 5:30pm.