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Men's College Basketball
Rider University 90, Niagara University 87
LAWRENCEVILLE?Senior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham) made a three-point field goal with 6.0 seconds left to give Rider a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win over Niagara Wednesday night. “I thought it was a big-time win,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We just beat a really good team in a game we really needed to win.”
Mansell finished with 22 points after making a foul shot with one second left for the final score. “It was a big-time senior moment for Harris,” Dempsey said. “He's made a lot of big shots in his career. He had a couple shots last weekend that did not go his way, but I told him there is no one I'd rather have taking those shots. Tonight down the stretch we found the guy we wanted and he drilled it.”
Rider junior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) compiled 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists. “Just a great shot by Harris,” Thompson said of the game-winner.
“On that last play, once Ryan drove I tried to find an open spot,” Mansell remembered. “They did a good job of cutting Ryan off but they also denied me the ball. The ball starting being passed all over the place, but I just stayed where I was. The ball finally got back to me and they were off of me so I just took the open shot.”
Second place Niagara (21-7, 12-4 MAAC) trailed 84-74 with 3:15 remaining before out-scoring Rider 13-2, 10 points by junior guard Tyrone Lewis of Levittown, PA, to take an 87-86 lead with 24 seconds left. It was Niagara's first lead since 9-8. Lewis, the MAAC Championship Tournament MVP as a freshman in 2007, finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds. “Lewis did everything he could to will his team to win down the stretch,” Dempsey said. “He was terrific.”
“We knew they were going to get a run,” Thompson said. “In this league you always have to be aware of a team doing that.”
Trailing 69-53, Niagara out-scored Rider 19-8, six points by Benson Egemonye, to cut the lead to five, 77-72 with 5:05 left to play. Egemonye finished with 16 points.
Holding a 53-46 lead, third place Rider (15-11, 10-6 MAAC) went on an 11-0 run, five points by Mansell, to take a 64-46 lead with 15:00 left to play.
Rider has now beaten first place Siena (15-1) and Niagara. “We believe there are more than two teams in this league that can win a championship,” Dempsey said. “Some people were acting like this was a two-horse race, not including us, and I think tonight was a statement win. Niagara and Siena are not the only two teams in the MAAC who can go to the NCAA tournament this year.”
“It was a real exciting second half,” said Niagara head coach Joe Mihalich. “I think we lost this game in the first half.”
Holding a 21-19 lead, Rider out-scored Niagara 20-3, six points by Mansell on a pair of three-point field goals, to take a 41-22 lead with 5:08 left in the first half.
Rider led 50-38 at the half on 65.5 percent shooting, including seven of 11 three-point field goals, and shot 54.8 percent for the game, making 13 three-point field goals. “In the first half every time I looked up one of our shots was going in,” Thompson said. ?Everybody was getting good shots and it seemed everything was going in.”
“Because of that first half we probably didn't deserve to win the game,” Mihalich said.
Trailing 9-8, Rider went on a 10-0 run, five points by freshman Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram), to take an 18-9 lead with 12:59 left in the first half. Gadson finished with nine points.
Rider sophomore Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) added 11 points and six rebounds, while sophomore Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) contributed 10 points and seven assists without a turnover.
Bilal Benn added 22 points and eight rebounds for Niagara, who came into the game with 13 victories on the road, the most in Division I, and on a seven-game winning streak.
Rider has now won 125 of its last 166 games in Alumni Gym (.753), including nine of 11 this year and 20 of the last 24 in the Broncs' Zoo.
The Broncs defeated the Purple Eagles 80-76 here at Rider last year.
The Broncs host the University of Maryland Baltimore County Saturday afternoon at 4pm as part of the ESPNU BracketBusters weekend. Rider and UMBC were East Coast Conference rivals for two years. UMBC won the America East last year.
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