Men's College Basketball
La Salle University 92, Rider University 75
PHILADELPHIA, PA?The Broncs lost at La Salle Wednesday night. “I'm disappointed,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We just didn't play well. We expected to win tonight.”
Holding a 57-45 lead with 15 minutes left, La Salle (5-4) went on a 10-4 run, five points by Kimmani Barrett, to take a 67-49 lead with 12 minutes left. Barrett finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
“We knew we were playing a good, veteran team,” said La Salle head coach John Giannini, “and we knew it would be a good win for us. We played well and got a good win.”
“When you don't play well on the road against a good team, and they are hitting on all cylinders, this is what happens,” Dempsey said. “I don't think we played well and La Salle played very well.”
La Salle shot 56 percent from the field and made 19 foul shots, including eight in the final 2:40, and out-rebounded Rider 46-31.
The Broncs shot just 38 percent from the field and 65 percent from the foul line.
For Rider (5-3), junior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) compiled 19 points, 13 in the second half, along with five assists and sophomore Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) added 16 points and nine rebounds.
“We were well prepared for this game, we just didn't execute,” said Ringgold, a Philadelphia native making his second homecoming of the season. Ringgold was seven of 14 from the field.
“Mike played great,” Thompson said, “and like he said, we knew exactly what La Salle was going to do. We just didn't play well enough.”
La Salle was led by Rodney Green, who compiled 19 points and eight rebounds.
Rider never led in the contest. “I felt it was a poor effort start to finish,” Dempsey said. “We trailed by too much too early and that took us out of our game.”
Holding a 10-6 lead, La Salle out-scored Rider 10-0, five points each by Green and Vernon Goodridge, to take a 20-6 lead with 11:55 left in the first half. Goodridge finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
Trailing 26-14, Rider went on an 8-2 run, three points by Thompson, to cut the lead to 28-22 with 5:40 left in the first half, but that was as close as the Broncs could get.
The Broncs out-scored La Salle 7-3 over the final 2:30 of the first half to cut the lead to 10 at half time, 44-34.
La Salle led by as many as 21 points, 81-60 with 5:00 left. “I was a bit embarrassed by our defense,” said Dempsey after the Broncs gave up a season-high 92 points.
A pair of Philadelphia natives also played well for Rider, freshman Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) compiled 14 points and five rebounds and sophomore Matt Griffin (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) added 11 points, four rebounds in 29 minutes of action off the bench.
The Broncs came into the game ranked 22nd according to the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll.
The Broncs and Explorers are former East Coast Conference rivals (1974-75 to 1982-1983) and Middle Atlantic Conference rivals (1966-67 to 1972-73).
Rider and La Salle have now met 28 times, with Rider winning six.
The Broncs defeated the Explorers 71-69 on January 31, 1982 in La Salle's Hayman Hall, the only time the Explorers ever lost in the seldom used campus gym. La Salle revenged that loss with an ECC playoff victory over Rider that same season, the last meeting between these two programs (March 11, 1983 in Easton, PA).
Rider hosts NJIT Saturday afternoon. NJIT is coached this year by former Rider assistant coach Jim Engles. “We'll be a better team than what we showed tonight,' Dempsey said.
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