Men's College Basketball
Loyola College 73, Rider University 68
BALTIMORE, MD?And then there were four. With two conference games remaining to be played, Siena, Loyola and Niagara are all tied with Rider for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. “We have two games left, and if we win both we're in first place,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We might be tied with one or two or three teams, but we know if we win our last two we're hanging a banner in our gym.”
Senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) compiled 24 points and 10 rebounds, and junior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham) added 18 points, 15 in the first half, but it was not enough for the Broncs at Loyola Monday night. “Jason had us on his back for a while and Harris had a great first half,” Dempsey said.
Trailing 67-65, Loyola (16-12, 11-5 MAAC) out-scored Rider (18-9, 11-5 MAAC) 8-1 over the final 2:20 for its ninth win in the last 11 games.”Loyola made more big plays and more big shots than we did, especially down the stretch,” Dempsey said.
Trailing 49-39, Loyola out-scored Rider 13-3, eight points by Marquis Sullivan, to tie the score at 52-52 with 9:46 left to play. Sullivan finished with 10 points.
Rider has now lost three in a row for the first time this season. “We're in a tough stretch in our schedule right now,” Dempsey said. “I don't fault our effort, it was very good tonight. The guys are playing extremely hard. You don't always have the answers. Sometimes you get beat. Tonight I thought we just got beat by a team that played a great second half.”
Loyola out-scored Rider 44-27 in the second half.
Freshman Matt Griffin (Philadelphia, PA/St. Joseph's Prep) hit a three-point field goal, his only points of the game, with 2:20 left to give Rider a 67-65 lead. “Matty stepped up and made a huge three to give us the lead,” Dempsey said.
Rider recently ended a 10-game winning streak, the fourth longest streak in Division I this year. “It was another hard-fought loss,” Dempsey said. “It is hard to win in this league. We put together a string of wins and the expectations were raised, but every night is a battle and the games are tight.”
Loyola out-rebounded Rider 34-31. Rider is 14-2 when it out-rebounds its opponent. “We didn't rebound well enough tonight,” Dempsey said.
Holding an 18-13 lead, Rider went on a 10-2 run, five points by sophomore Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape), to take a 28-15 lead with 6:55 remaining in the first half, and Rider led 41-29 at the half. R. Thompson finished with 15 points before fouling out.
Trailing 5-4, Rider went on a 12-3 run, five points each by J. Thompson and Mansell, to take a 16-8 lead eight minutes into the game.
For Loyola, who is picked to finish second in the MAAC this year, Michael Tuck compiled 20 points and nine rebounds.
The 'double-double' for Thompson is the 17th of the season, his 34th in the last two years and the 47th of his career.
Thompson has now scored 20 or more points in a game 34 times in the last 57 games, including 17 times this year.
Thompson entered the game second in the nation in rebounding (12.1),12th in blocks (2.9) and 35th in scoring (20.1).
Gerald Brown, a Providence College transfer who led the MAAC and was eighth in the nation in scoring last year, finished with 16 points.
The Broncs and Greyhounds have met 31 times since the series began in 1931-32, with Rider winning 19.
The Broncs lost four straight games to Loyola before defeating the Greyhounds by 14 points on January 13 in Lawrenceville. Before those four straight losses Rider defeated Loyola six straight times.
The Broncs shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half (16-24) and 48.2 percent for the game (27-56). Rider entered the game 12th in the nation in field goal percentage (48.8) and 32nd in three-point field goal percentage (39.5). the Broncs made just six of 20 three-pointers. Rider was 32nd in Division I in scoring (78.0).
Rider travels to Cal State Northridge for the BracketBuster game February 23, and then has two MAAC games remaining, both at home, where Rider is 9-2. “Being home makes a big difference,” J. Thompson said. “Even though we have a pretty good road record (8-5), we play at our best at home. We're a tough team to play at home.”
