NEWTON, Mass. (2/19/14) – The Lasell College men's basketball team couldn't rebound from a slow start, dropping a 60-55 result to Rivier University on Wednesday evening. Lasell dropped to 13-10 overall and 10-6 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference while Rivier improved to 9-15 on the year and 6-11 in GNAC play.
Rob Watts (Lafayette, N.J.) posted his first double-double of the season, scoring 16 points on 7-13 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds for Lasell. The senior forward tied a career-high with 16 points while also recording the first double figure rebound game of his career. The 55 points were the lowest output of the season for Lasell and their 20 point first half included a 24% shooting performance from the field, a 4-14 effort from three point territory and 10 turnovers.
Nick Walch (Dedham, Mass.) scored a game-high 23 points to pace Rivier while grabbing nine rebounds and adding four assists. Tom Poitras (Bow, N.H.) added his seventh double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Raiders while blocking three shots and Kevin Francis (Cromwell, Conn.) chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
The Lasers trailed 13-10 just over five minutes into the opening half before going into a scoring drought. Lasell went 10 minutes without a point, missing 12 consecutive shots in the stretch and turning the ball over five times while Rivier put together a 12-0 run during the stretch to tale a 25-10 advantage. A three pointer from Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) broke the Lasers drought with 4:07 left in the half, but Lasell was unable to cut into the deficit, trailing 34-20 at the half.
Rivier's lead grew to as many as 17, 48-31, courtesy of a Jake Nelson (Nashua, N.H.) lay-in with 10:43 to play in the contest. Lasell senior Brock Walters (Jacksonville, Fla.) buried three pointers on consecutive trips to get Lasell back within 11 at 48-37 and Lasell wouldn't go away. The Lasers cut the lead to 52-45 on a Mike Vallone (Wallingford, Conn.) layup in transition, then climbed with three at 55-52 on a Ganesh three pointer with 1:22 to play in the game. A Walch free throw made it 56-52 in the Raiders favor and when the Lasers turned the ball over a pair of freebies from Francis put Rivier ahead 58-52 with just over 30 seconds to play. An Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) three pointer got Lasell back within three at 58-55, but River broke the Lasell pressure and converted a layup to put the game away, 60-55.
Rivier will close out their regular season with a trip to Anna Maria on Saturday February 22nd while the Lasers will travel to Suffolk on Thursday February 20th for a 7:30 p.m. contest before closing out their season at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon when they host St. Joseph's College of Maine.