Men's College Basketball
Rider University 76, University of Delaware 71
LAWRENCEVILLE? A standing room only crowd squeezed into the Broncs' Zoo Saturday afternoon to see if all the hype about the Rider basketball team and its star, senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape), was warranted. It was. Thompson compiled 23 points and a Rider-record 21 rebounds to lead Rider to victory over Delaware in the season home opener Saturday afternoon. “You can't play bad in front of a crowd like that,” said Thompson, who also tied his career high with seven blocked shots. “With the ?Zoo rockin like that, you can't play bad.”
Holding a 33-28 lead, Rider out-scored Delaware 12-4, seven points by junior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham), to take a 45-32 lead with 16 minutes left to play. Mansell finished with 16 points.
Delaware (0-2) out-scored Rider 12-2, four points by Herb Courtney, to cut the lead to 72-71 with :52 remaining, but that was as close as the Blue Hens could get. Courtney finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
“Give Delaware credit for hanging in,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “There were a couple of times it looked like we had them dead to rights, but they kept fighting. I think we got to a stretch where we felt we had the game in hand. The thing we need to understand is it is hard to win a Division I basketball game. You can never take winning for granted. I think we took winning for granted about the seven minute mark. Things get snug quick at this level.”
Rider led 62-46 with 8:04 left before Delaware went on an 11-1 run, four points by Alphonso Dawson, to cut the lead to 63-57 with 4:39 remaining. Dawson finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
“That was the first time we had a lead this year,” said Mansell, “so as we grow as a team our young guys will learn that when you do get a lead you can't let up. It isn't like high school basketball. Here, if you have an opportunity to put a team away you have to do it.”
“Every game is a learning experience,” Dempsey said. “We had a bit of a sloppy ending tonight. We'll work at that, playing with a lead. We have to play better with a lead next time.”
Rider (1-1) scored the last four points of the game, all from the foul line. Two foul shots by Mansell with 15.3 seconds left gave Rider a 75-71 lead. “We had the right guy at the foul line at that time,” Dempsey said. “Last game we were trailing by two points with 3.5 seconds left and Harris made two foul shots to tie the score at 65-65. “I made some tough shots last game also so that helped me relax in this situation,” Mansell said. “I've been shooting foul shots my whole life, so I was just thinking, ?this is just two more foul shots'.”
Trailing 17-16, Rider went on a 12-2 run, four points by Jason Thompson, to take a 28-19 lead and Rider never trailed again. The first nine minutes of the game saw 10 lead changes. “In the home opener we wanted to come out with a lot of energy and I think we did that,” Jason Thompson said.
Holding a 45-37 lead, the Thompson brothers, Jason and sophomore Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape), combined to out-score Delaware 10-2, giving Rider a 55-39 lead mid-way through the second half. Ryan Thompson finished with four points, nine rebounds and a career-high eight assists.
Junior Lamar Johnson (Scranton, PA/Scranton) contributed 14 points off the Rider bench
Sam McMahon led the Blue Hens with 16 points.
Thompson's 21 rebounds breaks his own record of 20 set last year. Thompson was one of five Broncs to compile 20 rebounds in a game. Before Thompson did it last year, the last time it was done was 1977.
Freshman Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) added eight points and five assists. “I just tried to come out with a lot of energy and do what the coach tells me to do to help my team,” said Robinson, who hails from London, England and came to Rider from Blair Academy.
This was the 60th meeting between Rider and Delaware, with Rider winning 29 times in the series that began in 1969-70. Rider and Delaware were East Coast Conference rivals from 1974-75 to 1990-91. Rider is now 8-4 against Delaware since the two teams moved on to different conferences. Rider has won six of the last seven meetings with Delaware, including last season in Delaware and 2005-06 here in Lawrenceville.
All the hype about the Broncs looks to be warranted. As for Thompson, he now has 1,382 points, 10th highest ever at Rider. His 786 rebounds is now fourth highest at Rider. The handful of NBA scouts in attendance might have been impressed.
“I don't think about that stuff,” Thompson said. “My thoughts are on helping my team win this game and win a championship this year. After I graduate I'll start thinking about what lies ahead.”
Right now FDU lies ahead. Rider hosts Fairleigh Dickinson Monday. “We know we have to play better for 40 minutes, but a win is a win,” Jason Thompson said. “We'll take this into Monday night and hopefully learn from it.”
What a lot of people learned Saturday is that the Broncs, and Thompson, are living up to the hype.
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