Men’s Basketball Downs Framingham St. in OT Thriller, 75-72

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – A Ra'Quan Groves three-pointer with 1:10 remaining in the overtime period propelled the Rivier men's basketball team past host Framingham St. in a 75-72 thriller on Tuesday night at Logan Gymnasium in non-conference action.

The Raiders won their second-straight and seventh game of the season to boast a 7-2 overall record, the best record through nine games in the program's history, which dates back to 1992-93. The Rams dropped to 4-7 with the setback.

Rivier took its first lead of the contest on a Woodson Jean Baptiste layup off a steal by Ahamadou Sillah. From there, both teams would stay within one score until Sillah's layup at 4:57 made it 32-27 in favor of the Raiders. After the Rams' Josh Saint Jean would surge for two straight baskets bringing the deficit to two, Joe Melvin's putback on the final Rivier possession of the half would put the Raiders up 38-34 at the halftime break.

Odarius Cade led the team with nine points thanks in part to 2-of-4 (50%) three-point shooting in the opening 20 minutes of play. Sillah, Jean Baptiste, and Devin Owens each chipped in six points.

Owens hit an early three to grow the Raiders lead to seven points to start the second half, but a 16-6 run over the next 7:40 capped off by a Jonathan Noel jumper would give the Framingham St. its first lead since the 11:21 mark of the first half.

Back-to-back threes by Owens would give the Raiders a 59-56 edge with 4:33 left as the Rivier opted for a full timeout. After an Adonis Vashon layup, Owens hit his fifth trey of the half to put the guests up by four. A Cade three on the next possession advanced the lead to 65-58, forcing the Rams into a full timeout with 1:30 left in regulation. Framingham St.'s Kyle Philistin would drill a three with eight seconds remaining to cap off a 6-1 run, forcing an overtime period.

The two squads would trade points to open up overtime, but Ra'Quan Groves' first three-pointer of the night put Rivier back up 73-70 with 1:10 left. The Rams would opt to foul after a made layup, and Robenson Baguidy would be true on both to regain a three-point lead with 16.3 on the clock. Rivier would then foul, with Noel heading to the line for a one-and-one opportunity. A missed shot and a rebound from Cade sent the junior back to the stripe to ice the game. He would miss both, giving the Rams another chance to grind down the Raiders' lead from the line. Noel would miss yet again but got his own rebound with time to attempt a game-tying three-pointer, which went long.

Owens led all players with 25 points on 8-of-16 (50%) shooting from the field, including 5-of-10 (50%) shooting from deep, along with six boards, three blocks, and two steals. Cade would follow this up with 17 points and three steals. Groves' lone three-point attempt in overtime proved to be the game-winner as he scored nine points on 4-of-9 (44.4%) shooting off the bench.

Rivier heads west to Chicopee for the first semester finale on Saturday, Dec. 9 in a road tilt against Elms in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action. Tip-off from Picknelly Arena is set for 3:00 p.m.