Men's Basketball Moves On; Defeats Rivier 80-65 in GNAC Semifinals

NEWTON, Mass. (2/25/14) – The Lasell College men's basketball team advanced to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinals with a 80-65 victory over Rivier University on Tuesday evening. The 4^th seeded Lasers improved to 16-10 on the season with the victory while the 5^th seeded Raiders slipped to 10-16 with the loss. Lasell will travel to Albertus Magnus on Thursday February 27^th for the conference semifinals to take on the Falcons.

Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) posted a double-double for Lasell with 22 points and 15 rebounds, Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) added 22 points and six boards and Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) came off the bench to score 16 points and knock down four three pointers. Jeremy Daniel (Bridgeport, Conn.) added a game-high eight assists along with seven points for the Lasers and Rob Watts (Lafayette, N.J.) chipped in eight points and nine rebounds.

Tom Poitras (Bow, N.H.) scored a game-high 23 points for Rivier, breaking the single-season scoring mark with a three pointer just over a minute left for his 518^th point of the season. Poitras added 14 rebounds, three assists and three rebounds in the contest. Jake Nelson (Nashua, N.H.) finished with 17 points for the Raiders adding seven assists and Nick Walch (Dedham, Mass.) added 11 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

A closely contested game in the opening half, Lasell was nursing a 23-20 lead with just over six minutes left when Angel Ortiz sparked the hosts. He knocked down three pointers on consecutive trips for Lasell, giving Lasell a 29-22 edge. A three pointer by Ganesh following a free throw by Poitras gave Lasell a nine point advantage at 32-23. An Ortiz three pointer moments later put Lasell ahead 37-27 and following an illegal screen whistled against Riviers' Poitras a Mike Vallone (Wallingford, Conn.) three pointer put Lasell ahead 40-27. A three point play by Walch made it a 10-point deficit for Rivier, 40-30, put Ortiz answered with a three point play of his own to put Lasell on top 43-30 heading into the intermission.

Leading 45-34 moments into the second half, Lasell went on an 8-0 run bookended by a pair of baskets from Watts to give the hosts their biggest lead of the contest 53-34. Trailing 55-36, Rivier went on a run of their own, using seven points form Poitras and a pair of baskets from Nelson to spur a 12-2 run that cut the Lasers lead to 57-47 with 12:06 to play. Ortiz again made a big shot for Lasell, canning his fourth three pointer of the game to stem the tide and Lasell pushed their lead back to 16 with just under 10 minutes to play.

Rivier would get as close a nine, on Poitras's record breaking three pointer with 1:01 to play, but Lasell closed out the victory from the free throw line to take home the 80-65 victory.