Rivier's Izaiah Shaw-Glen, shown earlier this season, led the Raiders with 33 points in a win over Mitchell Wednesdau night in Nashua. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The Rivier men’s basketball team held off a furious Mitchell comeback to earn a 71-68 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory Wednesday night at the Muldoon Center.

With the win, paced by Izaiah Shaw-Glen’s 33 points, Rivier improves to 8-7 overall (2-1 GNAC), while Mitchell falls to 4-11 (0-3 GNAC).

HOW IT HAPPENED

Rivier jumped out early behind senior Izaiah Shaw-Glen, who scored on consecutive layups and a free throw to give the Raiders a 7-4 lead at 17:18 of the first half. Shaw-Glen continued his dominance in the paint, adding two more layups to push the lead to 18-10 at the 9:39 mark,

Senior Robenson Baguidy drilled a driving layup at 8:42 to cap a 6-0 run, giving Rivier its largest first-half lead at 20-10. Mitchell responded with a three-pointer at 7:10 followed by a layup by at 6:34 to cut the deficit to three.

The Raiders closed the half strong as Baguidy hit two free throws and first-year Daylen Dalcour converted a jumper off a steal with eight seconds left, sending Rivier into halftime up 34-25.

In the second half, the Raiders extended its lead to 45-29 after Baguidy buried a second-chance three-pointer at 15:52 and Shaw-Glen scored inside at 16:37. The Mariners stormed back with back-to-back threes at 8:04 and 7:20 to make it 59-52 and Mitchell once again used its strong perimeter shooting to bring the contest within one at 60-59.

The Mariners continued to stay hot, regaining the lead for the first time since the beginning of the game behind a key three and interior scoring at the 3:44 mark to make the score 66-61.

Shaw-Glen answered with a 8-0 individual run in the final 54 seconds of action, knocking down a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 68-66, then scored a layup off a turnover and converted the go-ahead free throw with 38 seconds left

Shaw-Glen sealed the win at the line, sinking two free throws with 11 seconds remaining for the final margin of 71-68.

BOX SCORE BREAKDOWN

Shaw-Glen recorded a game-high 33 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and shot 10-of-11 from the line. Baguidy added 17 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds.

Sophomore Matt Youngquist grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

As a team Rivier shot 44.6% from the field, 71% from the line, and scored 32 points in the paint.

UP NEXT

Rivier continues GNAC play on Saturday hosting Lasell at the Muldoon Center. Tip-off is set for noon.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

RIVIER 80, MITCHELL 74

The Raiders, like the men, held off a late Mitchell rally to improve to 2-13 overall (2-0 GNAC), while the Mariners fell to 2-9 (0-2 GNAC).

Rivier opened the game strong, scoring on back-to-back layups from sophomores Gianna Donato and Sydney Perry to take an early 6-3 lead.

Graduate student Juju Nealy added a fast-break layup at 8:03 to push the advantage to 8-3 before Mitchell answered with back-to-back three-pointers to grab a 9-8 lead.

Perry continued to dominate inside, scoring off an offensive rebound at 4:09 and later converting a layup assisted by sophomore Hannah Smith at 1:29 to help the Raiders close the first quarter ahead 20-15.

In the second quarter, Donato drilled a three-pointer at 9:21 and later scored off a steal at 4:28 to extend Rivier’s lead to 33-26.

The Mariners fought back behind Peterson, who scored consecutive baskets at 2:37 and 2:23, trimming the deficit to 37-32 before Perry responded with a layup and free throw at 1:21 to keep the Raiders in front 42-35 at halftime.

The third quarter saw Mitchell surge as Beddoe hit a driving layup at 8:23 and later buried a three-pointer at 1:01 to cut the Raiders’ lead to 58-57.

Perry answered with a clutch layup at 0:41 and a free throw at 0:01, giving Rivier a 61-57 edge heading into the fourth.

In the final frame, Nealy took over at the line, sinking four straight free throws between 9:45 and 7:05 to push the lead to 68-60.

Streitmatter of the Mariners kept the Raiders honest, scoring on a three-pointer at 6:50 and two late layups at 3:13 and 0:18, but Nealy and junior Haley Phillips combined for three free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the 80-74 win.

Perry led the offense with 25 points (10-15 FG), nine rebounds with three offensive boards. Nealy added 18 points, six assists, eight rebounds, including 8-for-10 from the free throw line.

Donato followed close behind 17 points, four steals, three assists.

Sophomore Hannah Smith contributed eight points off bench on 4-7 shooting and added eight bounds and four assists.

Junior Erika Fantauzzi recorded seven points, three rebounds, two assists.

As a team, Rivier shot 42.9% from the field, 79.2% from the line, and scored 50 points in the paint.

UP NEXT

The Raiders return to GNAC play Saturday vs. Lasell at the Muldoon Center at 2 p.m.