No. 7 Seed Rivier Upsets No. 2 Seed Colby-Sawyer, 72-62

The No. 2 Colby-Sawyer men’s basketball team was upset by the No. 7 Rivier Raiders in the opening round of the ECAC Tournament, 72-62, Wednesday evening.  The Raiders were led by senior Lance Bisson (Nashua, N.H.), who scored 20 points and dished out seven assists.  Senior Duncan Szeliga ended his Colby-Sawyer career with 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, for his third double-double of the season. 

The Chargers came out of the gates running as they jumped on top of the Raiders 15-4, behind the shooting of Szeliga and junior David Rosso (Wilmington, Vt.).  Despite some sloppy play from both sides, the Chargers were able to maintain their lead throughout the majority of the half, until Rivier went on a run at the end of the period. 

Bisson knocked down five straight free-throws and Kevin Harrington (Center Ossipee, N.H.) hit several big jumpers to bring the Raiders within three at 31-28 heading into halftime.  Rivier closed out the half on a 14-7 run. 

Szeliga collected seven points and seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes, while Rosso added eight points.  Andrew Ferreira (New London, N.H.) added seven points of his own for the Chargers. 

Rivier grabbed its first lead of the game at the 16:09 mark of the second half, when Harrington sunk a jumper, pulling the Raiders ahead at 35-33.  Rivier pushed its lead to five, until freshman Will Bardaglio (Wayne, Maine) hit his lone three-pointer of the game, putting the Chargers up by one.  The Chargers would grab one more lead at 46-44, but that would be it, as Rivier would pull away, going on a 17-6 run.

Along with the shooting of Bisson and Harrington, freshman Mark Williams (Malden, Mass.) scored 12 points on 6-8 from the field, and senior Felipe Lima (Nashua, N.H.) added 10.  As a team, Rivier shot 51.7% from the field in the second half and forced 25 turnovers. 

With his 20 points, Szeliga finishes his career with 1,324 points, ranking eighth on the all-time scoring list.  Ferreira scored 10 points in 13 minutes of play.  The Chargers finish the 2008-09 campaign with a 20-8 overall record.

With the win, Rivier will advance to take on No. 6 Daniel Webster, who upset No. 3 Westfield State, 78-58.