THE BASICS 
Score: 
Emmanuel College, 92 – Rivier University, 59

Records: 
Emmanuel Saints (17-8, 13-4 GNAC)
Rivier Raiders (2-23, 0-17 GNAC)

Location: Nashua, N.H. – Muldoon Center

Date: Saturday, February 18, 2023

THE LEAD – First year guard Zaire Baines (Queens, N.Y.) scored a career-high 25 points to lift the Emmanuel College men's basketball team past Rivier University, 92-59, Saturday afternoon in the final Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest of the 2022-23 regular-season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• With 10:37 to play in the first half, Robenson Baguidy's (Goffstown, N.H.) layup gave Rivier a 26-19 lead before the Saints closed the first half on a 34-4 tear to open the score up to a 53-30 halftime margin. EC made five three's during the run including two from Baines and two from junior Ryan Grijalva (Stratham, N.H.) to help EC carry the 23-point lead into the break.
• Emmanuel opened the second half with seven straight points to extend things up to a 30-point lead at 60-30 following a layup by senior Kendrick Jean-Francois (Lynn, Mass.).
• The Saints led by as many as 40 during the action as Baines made it 84-44 with 7:38 left in the contest.
• The Raiders did outscore EC down the stretch, 15-8, to cut into the final margin as Emmanuel walked away with the 92-59 victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Baines finished with 25 points in just 20 minutes of action, going 8-for-11 from the field and 2-for-3 from downtown.
• EC junior Donte Pope (Middletown, Conn.) was next in scoring for the Saints with 13 while Jean-Francois chipped in with 12. Grijalva added 10 points and a career-high five steals.
• Senior Ted Weber (Orange, Conn.) continued his stretch of efficient games with eight points and nine rebounds over 22 minutes of work.
• Nikolas Pignone (Stoneham, Mass.) and Nesta Roberts (Manchester, Conn.) paced Rivier in double-figures with 13 and 11 points.
• Over the final nine minutes of the first half through the first 13 minutes of the second (22 total minutes), the Saints outscored the Raiders 65-18 (+47) to turn a tightly contested match into a comfortable road win.
• Emmanuel closes the regular-season with 13 wins in conference play, the second-most in program history behind a 14-4 mark in 2007-08.

UP NEXT

• Emmanuel moves on to the GNAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the North Division and will host the No. 4 seed from the South Division on Tuesday, February 21 at 5:30 PM.
• The Raiders close out the 2022-23 campaign with an overall record of 2-23, failing to qualify for postseason play.