NASHUA, N.H. – The Roger Williams University men's basketball team fell in the team's season opener on Thursday evening at the Muldoon Fitness Center to Rivier, 74-68.
 
Roger Williams knocked down 52.8 percent of their shots from the floor with an 83.3 percent free throw percentage.  Rivier went 42.6 from the floor, knocking down 63.6 percent from the stripe with 15 more attempts from the floor.
 
John Ah Kao (Monroe, Conn.) led the team with 20 points and was followed by Mac Annus (Belmont, Mass.) who tallied 17 points, shooting 9-12, and 7-12 respectively. Will MacDonald (York, Maine) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds in the matchup with Ah Kao adding seven rebounds in the contest. Ty Higgins (New Marlborough, Mass.) led the Hawk with five assists in the matchup.
 
Ah Kao got the scoring started for the Hawks scoring his first bucket off a layup, just 45 seconds into the contest. The Hawks started the game with a 7-0 stretch, after Ah Kao scored off a second layup, before MacDonald found Annus on a pass, which Annus knocked down a three.
 
The Raiders battled back to knot the score at 9-9, but the two teams battled back and forth to a 17-17 tie with 8:36 remaining in the opening half.  The Hawks then fell behind after Ahamadou Sillah knocked down a step back jumper to give Rivier the lead, and sparking a 13-2 run over a span of 3:26, taking a 30-19 lead.
 
The Hawks managed to come back outscoring the Raiders, 9-2, over the final 4:05 of the half, capped by a layup by Finn Miller (Stamford, Conn.) with 43 seconds remaining to cut the lead down to four heading into the halftime break.
 
In the second half, Rivier picked things up adding to their lead, extending it to 13 after the break. With 4:29 remaining a bucket by Annus cut the lead down to one, and was followed with a lay in from Ah Kao, who gave Roger Williams a lead with 3:32 remaining.  The Hawks were unable to hold it however, with Sillah putting in a layup that put the Raiders up for good with 3:29 remaining.
 
Roger Williams (0-1, 0-0 CCC) will look to pick up their first win of the season on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at Coast Guard at 7:00 pm.  The Hawks will then host Connecticut College for their home opener on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 1:00 pm in the Campus Rec Center.