Men's College Basketball
Rutgers University 80, Rider University 70 (ot)
PISCATAWAY- During Revolutionary times, there was the Battle of Trenton, the Battle of Princeton and the Battle of Monmouth. At the Louis Brown Athletic Center Tuesday night, the Division I men's basketball Battle of New Jersey RUs took place and went overtime before the Broncs fell to the Scarlet Knights.
"I thought it was a hard-fought, well-played game,' said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "I thought Rutgers played very well, but this is disappointing. I thought this was an opportunity lost. We really wanted this game. We played with great energy and great emotion, we just didn't do enough offensively."
Rutgers (7-2) out-scored Rider 10-0 in the extra period, all ten points coming from the foul line. Mike Colburn made four of six foul shots in overtime and Jonathan Mitchell made three of four. Colburn finished with eight points and Mitchell had 17. "We just didn't put the ball in the basket in overtime," Dempsey said.
Rider (7-5) missed all nine of its overtime shots, seven from three-point range. "We fought," Dempsey said, "we got it to overtime, but I thought we were a little tired in overtime."
Rider senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) grabbed his own offensive rebound twice and scored with 12 seconds left in the second half to tie the score at 70-70, sending the game into overtime. "I was just doing whatever I could to get that ball in," Thompson said. "I didn't know exactly how much time was left but the ball kept coming back to me and it ended up falling." Thompson finished with a game-high 26 points and eight rebounds.
"Ryan played great," Dempsey said. "We tried to ride him. He had the hot hand so we went with him. We tried to call his number as much as we can. He was the kind of player tonight that we need him to be for us to have a big year in our league."
After going through a slump of scoring just 28 points over a three-game stretch, Thompson has scored 47 in his last two games. "I'd rather have a slump in the beginning of the season than when we get into conference play," Thompson said. "Right now I'm feeling comfortable. My shot is beginning to fall a little bit."
Trailing 66-63, Rutgers out-scored Rider 7-2 to take a 70-68 lead with 1:52 remaining. A three-point field goal by James Beatty, his sixth of the game, gave Rutgers a 69-68 lead, the eighth and final lead change of the game. Beatty finished with 21 points off the bench.
"I thought Beatty made big shots," Dempsey said. "The shot he made that gave them the 63-62 lead (with 4:30 remaining in regulation) changed the momentum. He got hot, and the shot that gave them the 69-68 lead was the biggest shot of the game."
With the score tied at 48-48, Rider out-scored Rutgers 11-6, seven points by Thompson, to take a 59-54 lead midway through the second half.
Trailing 30-22, Rider out-scored Rutgers 17-6 over the final 4:45 of the first half, six points each by Thompson and junior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy), to take a 39-36 lead at the half. Thompson and Robinson each scored 13 in the first half. Robinson finished with 15 points. "They pressed up on our guards in the second half," Dempsey said, "and that made it difficult to run our offense."
Rider led 14-13 before Rutgers went on an 11-1 run, six points by Beatty, to take a 24-15 lead midway through the first half.
Rutgers led 10-6 before the Broncs went on a 6-0 run, four points by Thompson, to take their first lead of the game, 12-10, after six minutes of play. "This was a game we were all excited for," Thompson said. "We played hard but it got away from us at the end."
Rider junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) compiled 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, as the Broncs out-rebounded Rutgers 48-43. "Plus five on the glass, on the road, against a BIG EAST team, we were relentless," Dempsey said.
Sophomore guard Mike Rosario added 18 points and seven rebounds for Rutgers while 7' center Hamady Ndiaye had nine points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Rider defeated the Scarlet Knights here on December 21, 2007. Rutgers beat Rider by four points, 66-62 at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton on December 3, 2008. This was the third time in the 15-game series that the game went overtime. Rutgers won 63-62 in 1983 in overtime and Rutgers won 98-93 in overtime to start the 1986-87 season.
The game was the second of six consecutive away games for Rider.
Rider continues its road trip through the Garden State with a visit to Monmouth's new arena December 19. That game will be a homecoming of sorts for junior Jhamar Youngblood (Elizabeth, N.J./St. Patrick's), who scored 697 points in a Monmouth uniform before transferring to Rider.
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