Men's College Basketball
Rider University 86, Lehigh University 71
LAWRENCEVILLE— So much for coming out flat after defeating the 18th ranked team in the nation. “I was worried about how we would come out after the emotion of Friday night's win,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “The last couple of days we've just been bombarded with congratulatory messages and I was concerned about our focus.”
On the day that Rider received seven votes in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for defeating defending SEC Champs Mississippi State; the Broncs came out of the shoot firing on all cylinders and won the home opener over Lehigh by 15 points.
The Broncs jumped out to a 19-3 lead, eight points by sophomore Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram), as Rider made its first five three-point attempts.
“We got off to a great start,” Dempsey said. “Lehigh had a lot of pride and they kept coming at us, but every time they did we seemed to have enough to continue to stretch the lead.”
Gadson finished with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds and senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) added 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists, as Rider improved to 2-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
“I didn't have any concerns about us not be focused after the Mississippi State win,” Thompson said. “Coach kept us humble. He told us to have our fun Friday night but when we left that locker room we had to get back to business and concentrate on Lehigh.”
Rider led 40-29 at the half on 13 Gadson points and four Gadson assists.
Rider (2-0) made a program-record 16 (of 29) three-point field goals. The previous record was 15, set January 6, 2008 in a 102-51 win over Canisius. “You have to take what the defense gives you,” Dempsey said. “With our ability to drive and score in the paint Lehigh came in and just built a wall around the lane. The threes were not the game plan but a product of how Lehigh decided to play. I don't care how many threes we take. I just focus on the quality of the shots. We made 55 percent (from beyond the arc) so the quality must have been pretty good.”
“You have to take what the defense gives you,” Thompson said. “We were sharing the ball well. Lehigh plays good defense but the three-point shots were open so we kept taking them.” Thompson made a game-high five of nine threes.
Holding a 60-55 lead, Rider went on an 11-2 run, six points by Gadson, to take a 71-57 lead with 4:16 left to play. “I knew I had to provide a spark at that time,” Gadson said after his second 20-point performance in as many games (21 at Mississippi State). “If I didn't we were looking to be in a tough situation.”
Trailing 57-40, Lehigh (0-2) went on a 15-3 run, eight points by CJ McCollum, to cut the lead to 60-55 with 6:44 left to play but that was as close as the Mountain Hawks could get. McCollum finished with 13 points.
“Lehigh responded,” Dempsey said. “They are a good basketball team and we knew that coming in. They are picked second in their league (Patriot League) for a reason. They did not go away.”
Rider out-scored Lehigh 10-2 to start the second half, six points by junior Patrick Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham) on a pair of three-pointers, to take a 50-31 lead with 16:16 left to play. Mansell finished with nine points in just 14 minutes off the bench, making three of five three-point shots. “Pat is playing really well,” Dempsey said. “He's having a good year. I'm not just talking about two games. Since the workouts started in September he is having a much better year at this point than he was last year. He can really stretch the defense.”
Lehigh senior Marquis Hall, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year, was held to 12 points. Michael Ojo led Lehigh with 14 points.
Rider junior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) added 14 points and junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), the star of the Mississippi State game and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Week, was held to six points but grabbed eight rebounds and had four assists and a pair of blocked shots. Junior Jhamar Youngblood (Elizabeth, N.J./St. Patrick's) added nine points, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
Trailing 50-31, Lehigh out-scored Rider 9-0, six points by 5'9” Prentice Small, to cut the lead to 50-40 with 14:04 remaining. Small finished with 11 points.
Rider never trailed in the contest. “There is such a great atmosphere in our locker room,” Thompson said. “Everybody is so motivated and doing whatever they can to help us win.”
Rider defeated Lehigh 69-68 last year in Bethlehem, PA. Rider leads the all-time series with its former Middle Atlantic Conference and East Coast Conference rival 31-20.
With the victory, Rider has now won its last four home openers and 12 of its last 14.
Rider has now won 23 of its last 27 games in Alumni Gymnasium.
Rider now travels to the University of Virginia for a game Thursday evening, to the University of Kentucky for a game Saturday afternoon and then on to Cancun, Mexico to play Florida A&M November 24 and either Sam Houston or Oral Roberts November 25, all four games part of the Cancun Challenge.
“You have to pick you spots, pick your years, when scheduling teams like this,” Dempsey said. “You have to have a lot of confidence in your team to play a schedule like this. I talked with the older guys last spring and they wanted to be challenged. This is a good year for us to take some chances. Friday night was case in point. When you have a team that you think can compete at that level, you have to give them the opportunity to do so, and they took advantage of it.”
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