(Nashua, NH) The Rivier University Men's Basketball team lost their second straight home game at the buzzer this evening as the Emerson College Lions edged the Raiders, 57-56 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action inside the Muldoon Gymnasium.

Rivier, now 6-9 overall and 2-6 in the GNAC, made a late 20-7 run to close out the first half and hold a slim3-point lead at the half. Junior Tom Poitras (Bow, NH) was the main reason as he connected on 6-of-12 and added 4 free throws for 17 point first half. He would go on to finish the game as the high scorer with 25 points.

Trailing for most of the second half, even being down by 10 at one point, the Lions roared back and took a 51-50 lead on a three-pointer from junior James Rhodes (Hebron, CT). As the final seconds ticked away, junior Jon Goldberg (Stowe, VT) collected a rebound and was able to get the ball down court where freshman Brian Hurley (South Boston, MA) was able to lay it in for the game winning basket.

Junior Nick Walch (Dedham, MA) recorded another double-double as he had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Rivier. Junior Mike Polley (Nashua, NH) contributed 9 points off the bench in the loss.

Emerson, who improves to 8-7 overall and 6-2 in the GNAC, was led by Goldberg who had 12 points. Freshman Michael Thrope (Newton, MA) was the other double digit scorer as he added 11 points and Rhodes finished with 9.

Both teams will be back in action this weekend as the Raiders are set to host Norwich University on Saturday afternoon (3pm start). Emerson will remain on the road as the travel to New Haven, Connecticut to battle #19 Albertus Magnus College.