Men's College Basketball
Siena College 80, Rider University 77
LAWRENCEVILLE? All good things must come to an end. The Broncs lost for the first time since January 4, snapping a 10-game winning streak, the fourth longest active streak in the nation. “I forgot how bad this feels, to lose,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
Josh Duell hit a three-point field goal with 1.3 seconds left to give Siena a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory at Rider Sunday afternoon. Rider and Siena are now tied for first place in the MAAC. “I thought it was a tremendous college basketball game,” said Siena head coach Fran McCaffery. “We just beat a very, very good team that is very well coached.”
Behind Rider (18-7, 11-3 MAAC) and Siena (16-8, 11-3 MAAC), Loyola, Niagara and Marist are all tied for third at 9-5 in the conference. “It's going to be a great battle to the finish,” Dempsey said.
The contest marked the third time in the last four Rider games that the winner of the game would be in first place. Rider won the last two, at Marist and at Siena, before defeating third place Niagara on Friday. “We made it hard on ourselves for the final stretch run,” Dempsey said. “We had a chance to hold serve at home and go up two games, be in a position where it would be hard to catch us. Now we're tied for first.”
Duell made a three-point field goal to cut the lead to 75-73 and his basket tied the score at 75-75 with 58 seconds remaining. “Duell made a huge shot from 25 feet on what I thought was a good defensive position by us,” Dempsey said. “Any time you give up a 25 footer with 1.3 to go I think you did your job defensively. Give him credit, he made the shot and got them out of here with a win.” Duell finished with 14 points.
Siena led 69-67 before Rider went on an 8-0 run, three points by senior Kamron Warner (Pleasantville), to give the Broncs a 75-69 lead with 2:00 left to play. Siena led 61-56 before Warner scored seven in an 11-6 Rider run that tied the score at 67-67. “I was just trying to stay active,” said Warner, who finished with 13 points in 15 minutes off the bench. “I'm an energy guy, so I just wanted to come and get the place jumping.”
For the Broncs senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed a Rider-record 24 rebounds, along with five blocked shots. “Those numbers are unbelievable,” Dempsey said. “Those are as good a numbers as I think I've seen on a stat sheet. Jason showed up today in a big game and did everything he could to will his team to victory.”
“Give Siena credit,” Jason Thompson said. “They made some shots at the end. Today it was two great offensive teams going at it, and they just made more shots at the end than we did.”
Jason Thompson entered the game ranked third in rebounding, 15th in blocked shots and 34th in scoring. Thompson now has 1847 points and 1061 rebounds. “He's a pro,” McCaffery said of Thompson. “He's a handful out there.”
“We missed a couple of big free throws down the stretch,” Dempsey said. Rider made just two of five foul shots in the final 1:13. “Nothing drains your momentum like missed free throws, and I thought that really sucked the life out of the gym and it gave Siena a chance, and they took advantage of it.”
Trailing 23-13, Rider out-scored Siena 17-6, seven points by Jason Thompson, to take a 30-29 lead, and Rider led 38-34 at the half. With the score tied at 10-10, Siena went on an 11-1 run, seven points by Edwin Ubiles, to take a 21-11 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half.
Also for Rider, sophomore Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) added 13 points and five rebounds.
Alex Franklin compiled 20 points and 12 rebounds for Siena, while Ronald Moore added 17 points. “I thought Moore played great,” Dempsey said. “Ronald and Franklin were both just terrific.”
Rider defeated Siena 89-75 on February 2 in Albany, NY. Siena won three in a row against Rider before Rider won the last two.
The Broncs shot 45.5 percent from the field (30-66), including 33.3 percent from three-point range (6-18). “I didn't think we shot the ball particularly well enough to win today,” Dempsey said, “and that has been our biggest strength all year.” Rider entered the game 10th in the nation in field goal percentage and 20th in Division I in three-point field goal percentage.
The 24 rebounds by Thompson is the second most ever in a MAAC game. The record is 25 set by Darren Phillip of Fairfield, set in 2000.
The ?double-double' for Thompson was his 16th of the season and the 46th of his career.
Rider travels to Fairfield Saturday.
-RU-
