LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – All eight Rider University men's basketball student-athletes who played scored at least four points, led by three in double figures as the Broncs pulled out a 61-56 win over Saint Peter's Thursday night at Alumni Gym. With the win, the Broncs' seventh straight, Rider clinched a MAAC Championship opening-round bye and will be either the No. 3, 4 or 5 seed, pending Saturday's results around the league. The Broncs have the idle date on the MAAC schedule on Saturday, while the Peaco*cks (16-12, 12-7 MAAC) face league-leading Quinnipiac at home.
Defense and fouls were the story of the first half, with Rider taking a 29-26 lead into the break on the strength of a 34.6 percent (9-26) to 31.0 percent (9-29) advantage from the floor. Rider built a 10-2 lead on Ruben Rodriguez's (Reading, PA/Reading) pull-up jumper at 12:40 and, after the Peaco*cks cut the lead to two, 10-8, Rider responded with seven straight, capped by a spin and score from Mervin James (St. Thomas, USVI/Pebblebrook [North Alabama]) to take a 17-8 lead at the 7:17 mark. Later, a 10-3 Saint Peter's spurt gave the Peaco*cks their first lead, 26-24, on a Mouhamed Sow lay-up with 1:42 remaining. But the Broncs got a James three and an Anthony McCall (Philadelphia, PA/Academy of the New Church) up-and-under finish to take the three-point lead into the break. James led the Broncs with 10 points and seven rebounds at the half.
Saint Peter's would score the first four points of the second half to retake the lead and with the game tied at 34-34 with 16:22 remaining, the game would take a dramatic turn. T.J. Weeks Jr. (Warwick, RI/Bishop Hendricken Catholic [UMass]) was fouled attempting a three-point shot and commotion ensued underneath the basket. A flagrant two foul was called on James with an accompanying ejection, while four other technical fouls were called in total. After free throws were taken both ways, Saint Peter's emerged with a 37-36 lead.
Seven lead changes later, the Broncs took a 56-54 lead on a McCall drive with 2:09 left, before the Peaco*cks' Latrell Reid answered with a floater in the lane to tie the game with 1:39 left. The teams traded turnovers in the ensuing possessions each way, before Weeks Jr. misfired on a three with 37 seconds left, but blocked Roy Clarke's attempt on a drive with 13 seconds left, giving Rider possession with the shot clock off. Back the other way, Allen Powell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle College HS) found McCall underneath and the Peaco*cks were whistled for a goaltend with 5.0 seconds left, putting Rider ahead, 58-56. Rider forced consecutive Reid turnovers in the backcourt and JT Langston Jr. (Fort Wayne, IN/San Gabriel Academy [East Los Angeles College]) made 3-of-4 from the free-throw line to ice the game.
Quotes & Notes
"Just glad we were able to prevail without Mervin. It's good that these guys here again helped us find a way. We missed too many free throws. But I'm not going to complain about anything. We won. So I'm just happy we found a way to finish this out and win."
(On turning to Anthony McCall) "Because I can trust Ant. He is Mervin's substitution. Ant's going to play overtop of the rim, get rebounds, play good defense. Ant's going to stay in his lane and play basketball. We knew he'd be able to get to the rim on some of those putbacks. Fortunately, he was able to get that last one. It was goaltending, but that was going in. Again, we've seen Ant do that a number of times in the games and in practice. So I'm not surprised."
(On bench contributions) "To win seven in a row, you need the guys off the bench to play well. Ruben, JT, Ant – a number of different guys have really stepped up. I don't even want to be remiss and leave anybody out. But that's the reason we've gotten better and we've been on this winning streak – because of those guys on top of our regular starters that have done a good job throughout this streak." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett
(On his mindset when Mervin James was ejected) "When it happened, I'm watching just to see what was going on. When I saw that, I took a quick prayer, asked God to help me go out here and do what I had to do – make winning plays."
"It was a great environment. Saint Peter's played rough. I'm used to that kind of basketball, so it don't really faze me. I'm just happy that my team had confidence in me, so it gave me more confidence. And I just went out there and played." – Rider sophom*ore forward Anthony McCall
- Rider leads the all-time series with Saint Peter's, 44-35. Rider has swept each of the last two regular-season series with the Peaco*cks.
- Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett is now 9-2 against second-year Saint Peter's Head Coach Bashir Mason's teams, dating back to both coaches' first years leading a team. Mason coached Wagner from 2012-13 until taking the Saint Peter's job last season.
- The Broncs are 17-11 under Baggett against Saint Peter's, including a 7-4 mark at Alumni Gym.
- Rider is now 13-2 this season when leading at the half.
- Rider moved to 9-4 at home this season, including a 7-3 mark in league play.
- By virtue of a 12-8 record and a Saturday pairing between Marist and Niagara, both at 11-8 and the assurance that one team will lose and fall to 11-9, the Broncs have clinched a top five seed at the MAAC Championships. The losing team between Marist and Niagara will slip to the No. 6 seed.
- The Broncs await their MAAC Championship seed and opponent. However, they're locked into a Thursday night, March 14 quarterfinal contest. Should they secure the No. 3 seed, the Broncs would play the winner of Tuesday's opening-round game between the No. 6 and No. 11 seeds on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. Should the Broncs take the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, they'd play the 9 p.m. nightcap on Thursday.
- A Quinnipiac win over Saint Peter's Saturday paired with a Niagara win over Marist would bump Rider to the No. 3 seed by virtue of a 3-1 mini-conference record against Saint Peter's (1-3) and Niagara (2-2). That scenario would set up a quarterfinal pairing with sixth-seeded Marist.
- A Saint Peter's win over Quinnipiac would guarantee the Peaco*cks the No. 3 seed, pushing Rider to the No. 5 seed by virtue of Marist's head-to-head sweep of the Broncs and Niagara's sweep of Fairfield and accompanying tiebreaker considerations it brings. Fifth-seeded Rider would play the No. 4 seed – the winner of Saturday's Niagara at Marist contest.
- A Saint Peter's loss to Quinnipiac paired with a Marist win over Niagara would mean Marist would take the No. 3 seed by virtue of a 3-1 mini-conference record between the three schools, while Rider (2-2) would take the No. 4 seed and Saint Peter's (1-3) would be the No. 5 seed, setting up a rematch between the Broncs and Peaco*cks.
- Prior to the game, the Broncs honored their four-member senior class of James, Tariq Ingraham (Philadelphia, PA/Bonner-Prendergast [Wake Forest]), Powell and Corey McKeithan (Windsor, CT/Windsor) on Senior Night.
Broncs by the Numbers
- Despite missing the final 16-plus minutes, James led the Broncs with 12 points and eight rebounds. He made 5-of-8 from the floor, including 2-for-2 from beyond the three-point arc.
- McCall added a career-high 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 1-for-3 from the free-throw line. He added five rebounds, two steals and an assist.
- Langston Jr. added 10 points, three rebounds and two blocked shots. He made 1-of-3 from the floor and 8-of-12 from the free-throw line.
- Powell added eight points, three assists and three rebounds.
- Weeks Jr. contributed seven points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots and three steals in the full 40 minutes.
- The Broncs outshot Saint Peter's, 35.4 percent (17-48) to 30.2 percent (16-53) from the floor.
- The Peaco*cks took a 27.3 percent (3-11) to 23.5 percent (4-17) edge from beyond the arc.
- Saint Peter's also outshot Rider, 84.0 percent (21-25) to 60.5 percent (23-38) from the free-throw line.
- Saint Peter's took a 14-12 edge in points off turnovers and a 24-22 advantage in points in the paint.
- Both teams scored 17 points on second chances.
- The Broncs enjoyed an 11-6 edge in fast-break scoring and a 25-13 advantage in bench contributions.
- The game featured 14 lead changes and 11 ties.
- Rider led for 22:13 of game time to the Peaco*cks' 10:07 with a lead.
Up Next
The Broncs now await their MAAC Championship seed, opponent, game date and time, but will play a Thursday night quarterfinal game as the No. 3, 4 or 5 seed from Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Stay posted to GoBroncs.com and @RiderMBB on X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest information.
Print Friendly Version
