Men's College Basketball
Marist College 81, Rider University 80
LAWRENCEVILLE--Rider senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) compiled 26 points and 11 rebounds, and his younger brother, sophomore Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) added a career-high 24 points and six rebounds, but it was not enough to defeat Marist in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Rider Friday night. “They made more plays than we did in the last couple of minutes,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “It was discouraging the way it ended.”
Trailing 80-78, Marist senior Ryan Stilphen made a three-point play, with a lay-up on an inbounds pass and a foul shot with 3.4 seconds left to give Marist the win. “Give Marist credit, they made all the plays going down the stretch,” Dempsey said. “Good teams are not going to go away. They kept battling, making shots and making plays, and the next thing you know it turns back into a dog fight.”
Trailing 73-71, Rider (8-6, 1-2 MAAC) out-scored Marist (8-6, 2-1 MAAC) 8-2, six points coming from the Thompson brothers, to take a 79-75 lead with 2:09 remaining. Red Fox freshman guard Jay Gavin made a three point field goal with 1:39 remaining to cut the lead to one. Gavin finished with a team-high 21 points off the bench. “Gavin really stepped up and made some big shots,” Dempsey said.
Rider junior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham) made one of two foul shots for an 80-78 lead, before Stilphen's game-winning three point play, the 17th and final lead change of the game. “In that situation, up two, we had to guard against the three-point field goal,” Dempsey said. “In my wildest dreams I didn't think a three-point play would end the game. If you defend the three and they score a lay-up, you can live with overtime at home, but I never expected a three-point play.”
Stilphen finished with 11 points, including the 1,000th of his career and now has 1,006 career points, the 25th Red Fox to reach 1,000 career points.
After making all 10 of its foul shots in the first half, Rider missed its first eight foul shots of the second half and finished 12 for 21 for the game. “Foul shooting has been an Achilles' heel for us, but it never really cost us a game until tonight,” Dempsey said.
Trailing 69-58, Marist out-scored Rider 15-3, eight points by David Devezin, to take a 73-71 lead with 3:11 left to play. Devezin finished with 14 points. “Devezin was really hard for us to guard,” Dempsey said. “He put a lot of pressure on our defense, driving the ball.”
Rider out-scored Marist 15-6 over the first 6:40 of the second half, six by Jason Thompson and five by Ryan Thompson, to take a 60-51 lead.
The Thompson brothers accounted for 31 of Rider's 45 first half points. The 'double-double' for Jason Thompson was his eighth of the year and the 38th of his career.
Senior Kam Warner (Pleasantville) came in off the Rider bench and made three three-pointers in 15 minutes of action, finishing with nine points.
“We scored enough points tonight,” Dempsey said, “but we had a difficult time stopping them in spots when we really needed a stop, and that is where the game got away from us.”
“This is a terrific win for our program,” said Marist head coach Matt Brady, “on the road against a team that is clearly a threat to win the regular season title. They are well coached and have a lot of answers.”
Rider hosts Canisius in a MAAC game Sunday afternoon at 2pm.
-RU-
