BUFFALO, N.Y.--Rebound. Senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) helped his team rebound from a 12-point loss on Thursday to defeat Canisius in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Saturday, and in the process became Rider's all-time rebound leader. “Anytime you can break a record that stood for 30 years, anytime you can do something that nobody in the history of the school has done, that's really special,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We're very proud of him. It's a great record and he has a lot of rebounds left in him.”
Thompson compiled 25 points and 13 rebounds, his seventh ?double-double' of the season and the 37th of his career. The 13 rebounds gives him 878 for his career, breaking the Rider record of 874 set in 1977 by Chuck Simon.
“I wasn't aware that I was getting close to it,” Thompson said. “I guess it shows that all of the hard work during the off-seasons has paid off. It is an accomplishment I am proud of, but like I've said before, my only goal is to win a championship.”
Holding a 63-50 lead, Rider (6-4, 1-1 MAAC) went on a 19-2 run, 10 points by Thompson, to take an 82-52 lead with 2:41 left to play.
“They put a crowd around Jason for most of the game,” Dempsey said. “Once the game loosened up a bit in the second half they were a bit late with their double team. We got Jason the ball and if he gets the ball in the paint he's very hard to stop.”
Rider led 33-30 with 3:22 left in the first half before going on a 16-1 run, eight points by junior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham), to take a 49-31 lead, and the Broncs led 49-33 at the half. Mansell finished with 13 points.
Canisius committed 10 turnovers in the first half and finished with 15, “They are a growing team, playing a lot of young players, so we were hoping to speed the game up,” Dempsey said. “It is difficult for a team to play fast with three or four freshmen on the court. We were trying to speed the game up and have their young players make decisions with the ball.”
Canisius (0-8, 0-2 MAAC) made three three-point field goals in the first five minutes and led 13-9 before Rider went on a 9-1 run to take an 18-14 lead. That was the fifth and final lead change of the game.
Sophomore Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) added 14 points, four rebounds and four assists, while freshman Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) added 12 points, a career-high six rebounds, a career-high four steals and four assists in just 25 minutes of work.
“Our guys passed the ball well, really shared the ball well in the open court,” Dempsey said. “We did a really good job tonight.”
Rider out-rebounded Canisius 38-27. “We dominated the boards,” Dempsey said. ?We forced some turnovers in the transition game. We're very good when we can get in transition.”
Rider returns to the Garden State and travels to Monmouth December 15 and to Rutgers December 21, before traveling to Drexel on December 27. “Our next three games are exciting with local rivals, and our kids are excited about it,” Dempsey said. “Unfortunately they are all on the road, so it was good to get a road win tonight.”
The victory Saturday was Rider's first road win of the season, Rider is 4-0 at home and 1-2 on neutral court.
Thompson now has 1,553 career points, eighth highest ever at Rider and 37 points shy of seventh. “I've heard people speak about me getting 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, and that would be great, but I'm not really focused on that,” Jason said. “It would be a great record to get, but the record for most wins in a season would be even better. As I help my team win, the individual records will come.”
“We were focused on coming up here and winning both games,” Dempsey said, “but once we lost to Niagara there was only one thing left to do, and that was to split.”
The Broncs rebounded from the loss at Niagara, and Jason Thompson continued to rebound for the Broncs.
