Men's College Basketball
Manhattan College 73, Rider University 68
RIVERDALE, NY?The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Manhattan Sunday afternoon, a game that featured 12 ties and nine lead changes. “I thought we played well enough to win, we just didn't close,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
Rider (14-11, 9-6 MAAC) led 68-63 before Manhattan (15-11, 9-7 MAAC) out-scored the Broncs 10-0 over the final 2:59, five points by Darryl Crawford. Crawford finished with a game-high 26 points. “Crawford was really good today,” Dempsey said. “We got some clean looks at the end, we just didn't make winning plays at winning times.”
Trailing 61-58, Rider went on a 6-0 run, four points by sophomore Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), to take a 64-61 lead. Ringgold finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Manhattan led 47-41 before Rider went on an 11-2 run, capped by a three-point field goal by senior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham), to take a 52-49 lead with 10 minutes left to play. “I told the guys we couldn't afford to get off to a slow start in the second half,” Dempsey said. “I thought we battled back in the second half.”
Rider sophomore Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) compiled 18 points, making four three-pointers, and junior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) added 16 points and seven rebounds. “It came down to playing defense,” Robinson said. “We didn't stop them when we needed to at the end, and they stopped us.”
“We lost three in a row in February last year,” Thompson remembered, “and we came back to put a few wins together before the tournament. We're all confident we'll turn this around before the tournament.”
Rider led 26-24 before Manhattan out-scored the Broncs 11-3 over the final 3:53 of the first half, eight points by Crawford, to take a 35-29 lead at halftime.
Chris Smith added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Jaspers.
The Broncs and Jaspers have now met 33 times since the series began in 1929-30, with Rider winning 16, including the last four meetings before Sunday. Earlier this year Rider won 76-73 on December 7, 2008 in Lawrenceville.
Rider won here in the Bronx 85-82 last season.
Rider won three in a row before losing to Saint Peter's Friday night in the Sovereign Bank Arena and has now lost two in a row. “We took a step backward this weekend,” Dempsey said, “but have time to regroup.”
The Jaspers are coming off a 96-69 loss at Siena Thursday night. Before facing first-place Siena Manhattan won three in a row. The Jaspers have won eight of their last 13 games. “Give Manhattan credit, they made the plays today,” Dempsey said. “Manhattan is playing well. They are a hard team to play against. We expected to be in a great game today with a lot on the line.”
With the win Manhattan climbs to within a half of a game of third place Rider.
The Broncs host second place Niagara Wednesday, February 18 in Alumni Gymnasium at 7pm.
-ru-
