Men's College Basketball
Siena College 91, Rider University 81
ALBANY, NY?In a re-match of the 2008 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship Game, the host Saints of Siena defeated the Rider Broncs 91-81 at the Times Union Center Friday evening. “Siena has very good players and this was a great team we played tonight,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “They were clicking on all cylinders.”
Trailing 47-46, Siena (11-5, 5-0 MAAC) went on a 14-2 run, six points by senior guard Kenny Hasbrouck, the Preseason MAAC Player of the Year, to take a 60-49 lead with 14 minutes remaining. Hasbrouck finished with 18 points and six rebounds. “Hasbrouck was just terrific,” Dempsey said. “He made some shots that really broke our back.”
Rider (8-6, 3-1 MAAC) trailed 64-51 before out-scoring Siena 11-2, four points by sophomore Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy), to cut the lead to 66-62 with 10:50 left to play, but that was as close as the Broncs could get. Robinson finished 11 points.
“We came up here to find out what we have to do over the next two months to try to come back up here and beat them when it counts, in the MAAC Tournament,” Dempsey said. “Right now they are a little bit better than us. Hopefully over the next two months we can close that gap.”
Rider senior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham) finished with a team-high 19 points. Mansell has compiled 50 points in his last three games after missing three contests with an elbow injury. Mansell now has 1,114 career points, 23rd highest ever at Rider. “We're happy that we scored 81 points,” Mansell said. “We weren't in a real flow but we found a way to get points. We played the way we wanted to play and I thing we played pretty well on offense.”
For Rider, junior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) finished with 16 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals. The MAAC Player of the Year candidate, Thompson leads the conference in scoring (16.8) and is eighth in rebounds (6.7), fourth in steals (1.8), 12th in assists (3.1) and first in minutes played (37.4). Thompson now has 971 career points.
“There was a lot of talent on the court tonight and I don't think all of it was wearing white,” Dempsey said of his Broncs.
Rider sophomore Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) compiled 16 points and 10 rebounds. Ringgold had a game-high 12 points in the first half. Ringgold scored 17 points in his last game against Marist.
Siena led 41-40 at half time. The back and forth first half featured nine ties and nine lead changes. Siena built six point leads on two occasions, 17-11 and 28-22, with the Broncs coming back to re-gain the lead both times.
Freshman Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) came in off the Rider bench to compile 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists. “In these types of games the players have to play,” Dempsey said, “and Novar stepped forward today. He played his heart out and his talent was undeniable tonight.”
For Siena, junior forward Edwin Ubiles scored 19 points, while junior forward Alex Franklin added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Ron Moore added 13 points and eight assists.
The Saints lost at national champion Kansas by seven points on Tuesday, and have now won nine of their last 11.
Rider defeated Siena 89-75 in Albany during the regular season last year, before losing to the Saints here in the MAAC Title Game last March. Siena went on to defeat Vanderbilt by 21 points in the NCAA tournament.
The Broncs return home to Alumni Gym, where they are 5-1 this season, to host Iona Sunday at 2pm. Rider recently defeated Iona by 14 points in New Rochelle, NY on New Year's Day. “Right now our focus is on Sunday,” Dempsey said. “That is one of the bigger games on our schedule. Right after that we have four on the road. We have to take care of business on Sunday.”
-ru-
