NASHUA, N.H. - The Norwich University men's basketball team secured one of their most critical victories of the 2024-25 campaign, handing Rivier University its first conference loss of the season, 77-63, at the Muldoon Center in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) clash on Wednesday evening.

Owen Liss (West Suffield, Conn.) enjoyed a historic double-double, going 10-15 from the floor with a pair of treys and a near-perfect 8-9 line from the charity stripe to tally 30 points while hauling down 23 rebounds, to go alongside five assists and one steal.  Kohlby Murray (Fair Haven, Vt.) drilled three long-range shots to finish with 19 points, while Sharif Sharif (Burlington, Vt.) supplied 10 points off the bench on a 50% shooting clip.

Early goings favored the Raiders, who captured two early advantages before Murray pushed the Cadets ahead on a layup to seize a lead that lasted 10 minutes.  Rivier knotted the affair at 22-all, but a Jalen Olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) triple ignited an 11-1 avalanche that granted Norwich its first double-digit lead of the night.

The Cadet defense held Rivier scoreless for the final two and a half minutes of the opening half, carrying a seven-point lead into the break.  The Raiders cut through the blockade to tip off the second stanza, trimming Norwich's lead down to two before reclaiming the lead at the 13:14 mark.

The Raiders appeared primed to embark on a run after stretching their edge to three on a Joey Merrill triple, but a prompt answer by Riley Severy (Barre, Vt.) to bring it to 46-all spurred a dominant 28-10 run by the Cadets.  Capped off by a trey from Liss to give the Cadets their largest lead of 18, Norwich kept Rivier at bay in the closing minutes to hand the Raiders their first home loss of the season, in addition to their first GNAC defeat of the 2024-25 campaign.

Norwich controlled nearly every statistical category, maintaining significant advantages in second-chance points (19-0), bench points (18-4), and points in the paint (36-22).  The Cadets' dominance in second-chance opportunities came courtesy of their insurmountable 42-20 margin on rebounds.

The Cadet offense was also firing on all cylinders, finishing with a 47.5% clip from the floor while holding Rivier to 41.1% on field goals.

Merrill paced the Raiders, logging 22 points while Matt Constant finished with 16 points.

The Cadets will return home for a pair of tilts, first hosting Emmanuel College on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 1:00 p.m., before taking on Regis College in Andrews Gymnasium on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 7:00 p.m.  Norwich then closes the month of January with two road contests at Dean College and Colby-Sawyer College.