Men's College Basketball
Rider University 81, Saint Joseph's University 73
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ- After beginning the season with a victory at the 18th ranked team in the country, defending SEC champs Mississippi State, high expectations for the Broncs got even higher. But after sluggish wins over Florida A&M and Binghamton sandwiched around a loss to Sam Houston State, the Broncs seemed to come back down to earth. "Tonight was a little more like it," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey after his Broncs defeated Saint Joseph's Monday night. "Those are the expectations we have for our basketball team. We know we haven't played well lately. We had to find a way to win this game to start feeling good about ourselves again."
Junior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) compiled 21 points, five rebounds and three steals to lead Rider to victory. "I felt Justin had a really good focus tonight," Dempsey said.
Robinson was 1 for 11 from the field in his last game but was 7 for 11 Monday night and made all five of his foul shots. "Coming off a one for 11 night I just tried to slow down, take what they were giving me and it worked out well," Robinson said. "I tried to start with defense, stay focused and hoped the offense would come along, and it worked out well."
The last time Rider defeated Saint Joseph's was January 2, 1980, 76-74 at Saint Joseph's.
"We knew we needed to play better," Dempsey said. "Our older guys knew we had to turn things around and they played well. They were determined to go out and play well."
Four Broncs scored in double figures. "The key was the unselfishness tonight," Dempsey said. "We really spread the ball around."
Rider (5-3) trailed 60-54 before out-scoring Saint Joseph's 14-1, five points by senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape), to take a 68-61 lead with 4:20 left to play. Thompson finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists. "Ryan is not going to carry us every night," Dempsey said, "and he doesn't need to. We have a lot of different weapons. They were keyed on him and he got the ball into the hands of other guys."
Thompson was three for four from the foul line and has now made 35 of his last 39 free throws, including 18 straight at one point and all 14 attempts at Kentucky.
"A lot of the times my teammates look to me to step up in big spots," said Thompson, the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year. "Today a lot of the other guys got going and Saint Joseph's was playing good defense against me. I just tried to get into the lane and get the ball to my teammates and they hit the shots."
Holding a 68-64 lead, Rider went on a 7-2 run to take a 75-66 lead with 1:03 left.
Also for Rider, junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) had 16 points, a game-high nine rebounds and four assists, as Rider out-rebounded the Hawks 44-32. "I think we competed a little harder on the glass," Dempsey said. "Tonight we were a little bit tougher than we've been. They tried to play Mike one-on-one and that was difficult for them."
"It was a great team effort tonight," Ringgold said. "My teammates did a great job getting me the ball in good spots. The refs let us play, which was great. It reminded me of playing street ball in Philly again. I was motivated to play Saint Joe's because they didn't recruit me."
Rider sophomore Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) added seven points and a game-high nine rebounds and sophomore Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) made a big three-pointer with 6:36 remaining to give Rider a 64-60 lead and finished with eight points in 12 minutes off the bench.
Making his first start for Rider, junior Jhamar Youngblood (Elizabeth, N.J./St. Patrick's) added 16 points. A transfer from Monmouth who sat out last season, Youngblood missed two games with a foot injury before compiling 10 points off the bench on Saturday in the win over Binghamton. At Monmouth Youngblood compiled 697 points in two seasons as Monmouth's leading scorer. As a freshmen he was the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year.
"The guys really responded," Dempsey said. "I thought we were a little bit quicker to the ball than they were, I thought we dug in a little bit better defensively and we were finally able to put them away."
Trailing 54-48, the Hawks out-scored Rider 12-0, five points by junior forward Idris Hilliard, to take a 60-54 lead with 9:19 remaining. Hilliard finished with a team-high 13 points.
Saint Joseph's led 48-47 before the Broncs went on a 7-0 run, three points by Robinson, to take a 54-48 lead with 13:29 left to play.
Trailing 37-31, Rider out-scored Saint Joseph's 12-3 over the final 3:22, seven points by Robinson, to take a 43-40 lead at the half.
Rider led 25-17 before Saint Joseph's went on a 13-0 run, six points by freshman guard Justin Crosgile, to take its first lead of the game, 30-25. Crosgile finished with 12 points.
Also for Saint Joseph's (3-3) senior guard Darrin Govens added 10 points and seven assists, while senior guard Garrett Williamson contributed 11 points.
Rider jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the first five minutes, eight points by Robinson.
The game featured 10 lead changes and three ties.
Rider and Saint Joseph's have now met 20 times since the series began in 1941-42 with Rider winning three times. Rider also defeated the Hawks 61-59 here in Alumni Gymnasium on January 6, 1970. Saint Joseph's won the last three meetings with Rider, including 69-57 last year at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. The last time these two teams met before last season was during the 1981-82 season, with the Hawks winning 76-53 in an East Coast Conference game.
Rider and Saint Joseph's were Middle Atlantic Conference rivals in the early 1970s and became East Coast Conference rivals in 1974. Saint Joseph's left the ECC in 1982.
In the last 12 days the Broncs have played six games in four cities and two countries.
With the victory, Rider is now 3-0 at home this season and has won 25 of its last 29 games in Alumni Gym.
Rider begins Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play December 6 when the Broncs host Marist. "This was a great win," Thompson said. "Now we have some momentum going into the MAAC."
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