Men’s Basketball Holds Off Roger Williams in Season Opener, 74-68

NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier men's basketball team started the new season with a bang, taking down Roger Williams by a final score of 74-68 on Thursday evening at Muldoon Gymnasium. The victory was the first for the Raiders since Nov. 20, 2022, and the first under first year head coach Tom Glynn.

The Raiders fell into a 7-0 deficit in the opening 3:01, but quickly went on a 9-0 run over the next 2:38, capped off by a Nikolas Pignone three, to take a 9-7 lead. Rivier's edge would increase to 11 on an Odarius Cade second chance opportunity, putting the hosts up 30-19 with 4:28 to play in the opening half. The Hawks would get the deficit down to four right before halftime, with Rivier leading 32-28.

Ahamadou Sillah led the scoring efforts in the opening half, scoring nine points on four-of-nine shooting, along with one free throw. Sillah also hauled in three defensive rebounds over 17:48 on the court.

A Robenson Baguidy bucket and an Odarius Cade three put the Raiders up by nine to open the second half. With under six minutes to play, Cade would get a steal and score to give Riv a 52-42 edge. John Ah Kao's hook shot outside of the paint with 10:31 to play put the Hawks in position to take the momentum, cutting the Raiders' lead to just four. Ra'Quan Groves followed that up with a three on the next possession to extend the Rivier lead to seven.

Roger Williams took their first lead of the contest on an Ah Kao layup with 3:32 to go, but Sillah would regain a Rivier lead on a layup of his own just seconds later. A Pignone steal led to a good Sillah jumper to extend the lead to five.

After a pair of Will MacDonald free throws kept Roger Williams within one score, Pignone nailed a three-pointer on a Baguidy feed to give Rivier a six-point cushion with 1:16 to play.

Ah Kao made two straight buckets for the Hawks to make it a 70-68 ballgame with 24 seconds remaining in regulation, but Roger Williams would foul Pignone who made both of his on-and-one opportunity to pull away for the victory.

Rivier shot 7-of-13 (53.8%) from three in the second half while limiting the visitors to 1-of-7 shooting from behind the arc.

Cade logged 37:46, the most of any player, in the triumph, scoring a team-high 20 points along with four steals. Sillah added 18 points and seven rebounds as Baguidy tacked on seven steals and 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

In the win, the Raiders were out-rebounded, 40-23, while stealing the ball away 15 times compared to Roger Williams' three takeaways.

The win marked the first win on opening night since the 2013 season.

Rivier will hit the road on Saturday, Nov. 11 as they travel to North Adams, Mass. for a 12:00 p.m. tip-off against MCLA at the Amsler Campus Center Gym.