Nashua, NH - Although the Raiders (4-13, 1-9) led for most of regulation, they could not hold on in overtime as the Cadets of Norwich (11-6, 6-4) came away with the last second win at the Muldoon.  Rivier struggled on the offensive boards because of the athleticism Norwich had, which allowed the Cadets many second chance opportunities.  Even though the Raiders made 5 more 3 pointers than the Cadets did, they were able to even that by converting 8 more times at the line than the Raiders.

In the first half, the Raiders came out ready to play as Brian Troy (Keene, NH) hit a 3 that led to an early 8-0 lead on the Cadets in the first 3 minutes of the game.  Then Nick Bean (E. Longmeadow, MA) decided to keep the fast start going with a 3 of his own to make the game 11-2.  Norwich went on a 6 point run to get back into the game as Israel Guardado (El Centro, CA) scored on a nice pass from Ryan Williams (Dallas, TX).  Joe Granato (Arlington, MA) entered the game around the 13 minute mark and hit his first three of the game to extend the Raiders lead to 5.  The teams traded baskets for the next couple of minutes until Bean made a costly foul on Williams who hit a 3 and completed the rare 4 point play that made the score 19-15.  The Cadets took the lead 24-22 on an up and under move from Cori Boston (Boston, MA).  Then Luke Brownell (Hubbardston, MA) got the crowd back into the game with a huge two-hand dunk to tie the game back up.  On the next offensive possession for the Raiders, Don Poitras (Bow, NH) had a dunk of his own to take the lead 26-24 followed by Troy hitting his 4^th 3 pointer of the half to extend the lead to 5.  After a few more Raider buckets to extend the lead to 9 points, Boston ended the entertaining half with a tomahawk dunk to head to the locker rooms with the Raiders leading 37-30.

Boston started the second half off for the Cadets with a couple of easy buckets inside to make the score 37-34.  After a bucket from the Raiders, Williams came down for the Cadets and hit a 3 to bring the deficit to just 2.  On their next possession, Boston dunked the ball from the baseline after a pass from Antonio Davis (Albany, NY) to come within 1 point.  Snider hit a tear drop for the Raiders to take a 44-41 lead.  As the Raiders came back down after a stop, Brownell completed a three point play after drawing a foul in the paint.  Williams quickly quieted the Raider crowed with a 3 pointer for the Cadets, but Snider responded with his first 3 of the game to make it 55-48 with 10 minutes left.  After a couple of Norwich Free throws, Bryant Mills (Philadelphia, PA) made a bounce pass to a cutting Chris Foley (Oakham, MA) to make the score 57-51.  On an out of bounds play for the Cadets, Boston converted a wide open lay-up to bring the score within 5 followed by Granato hitting a 3 to bring the lead back to 8 for the Raiders.  With 5 minutes to go, Williams hit another 3 to get closer to tying the game, then with less than two minutes to go in the game Davis tied the game up at 67-67 with 2 free throws. After both teams traded free throws, the second half ended in a tie at 69-69 and both teams prepared for overtime.  Norwich never had a lead in the second half, but managed to force turnovers late in the half with some stifling defense to put themselves in a position to get the game into overtime.

In OT, Norwich took the first lead as Williams hit one of two free throws, Davis hit a foul line jumper to extend the Cadets lead to 3 with 3 minutes to go.  After a few defensive stops, Bean came down and hit a 3 for the Raiders to tie the game back up 72-72.   A couple of trips to the free throw line by the Cadets gave the visitors a 3 point lead with 30 seconds left.  Snider quickly took the ball the length of the court and drove to the hole and hit a lay-up to bring the Raiders back within one.  On the inbounds play Granato was able tie up the ball to get a jump ball called, which gave the Raiders position with 10 seconds to go in the game.  The Raiders were able to inbound the ball and swing it from left to right which had Granato looking at a wide open 3 point attempt which rimmed out, yet the Raiders secured the rebound and kicked the ball out to Brian Troy who lofted up a last second shot which again hit the rim, but wouldn't fall through, the Cadets held on to take the game 75-74.

Davis led all scorers as he went 7-18 from the floor with a total of 23 points and brought down 10 rebounds for the Cadets.  Boston was a rebound away from recording a double-double as he put in 8 baskets and 2 free throws for 18 points while grabbing 9 rebounds.  Williams made all five 3's for Norwich and ended with 19 points on the night.

Poitras had another great game for the Raiders as he recorded his 5^th double-double on the season with 18 points and a game high 11 rebounds.  Freshman Brian Troy started the game off hot but cooled off in the second half, but ended the game with a total of 12 points.  Senior Luke Brownell had his best game of the year by playing 33 minutes with 12 points and 9 rebounds. 

The Raiders hope to be on the winning side the next time out as they will host the Suffolk University Rams on January 30, 2010 at the Muldoon Health and Fitness Center with a start time of 1:00 PM.  The Cadets will head to Mount Ida College in Newton, MA on January 30, 2010 at 1:00 PM.