MAAC Quarterfinals
Niagara University 93, Rider University 89 (2 ot)
ALBANY, NY?If you are a college basketball fan, you couldn't have asked for a better game. If you are a Rider basketball fan, however, you were asking for a better ending. “I thought the game was played at an extremely high level,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey, “with two of the best teams in the conference. We just ended up on the wrong end.”
The Broncs (19-12) fought back from a six-point deficit with 50 seconds left in the season to send the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinal game into a second overtime before losing to the second seed, Niagara, Sunday night.
“Just a tough loss that is really hard to swallow,” said Dempsey, who has led the Broncs to 58 wins over the last three years, tied for the best three-year win total ever at Rider. “I'm very proud of my team and the way they competed. We put ourselves in such a good position to win, the kids played so well and so hard, that's what makes it even more difficult.”
Junior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) compiled 27 points and 13 rebounds, playing all 50 minutes, sophomore Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) added 20 points and 12 rebounds and sophomore Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) added 19 points, but it was not enough to defeat 26-win Niagara. “Niagara has had a special year, but we expected to have a balanced game,” Dempsey said.
The game featured 15 lead changes, three in overtime, and 15 ties, three in overtime, and exhilarating comebacks by both teams. “They had a lot of momentum going into the first overtime, and we seemed to have the momentum going into the second overtime,” Dempsey said.
“It was a great game to play in,” said Thompson, who now has 1,306 career points, 17th highest ever at Rider. “I applaud my teammates for how hard they played. We fought back in the first overtime but in the second overtime we just let it slip away.”
In the end, the Purple Eagles made five of six foul shots in the 50th minute of play to advance to the MAAC Championship Game with the top seed, Siena.
For the game, Niagara made 28 of 44 foul shots, compared to Rider's 13 for 15 from the free throw line.
The third seed, Rider broke the Niagara press and found freshman Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) for a breakaway dunk with 17 seconds left in the second half to give the Broncs a 71-68 lead.
Niagara's First Team All-MAAC guard, Tyrone Lewis, banked a 30-foot three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Prior to that shot, the Broncs had held Lewis, the 2007 MAAC tournament MVP, to 10 points on 2 of 20 shooting. “When it got down to four seconds we tried to foul him before he could shoot the three but it wasn't called,” Dempsey said. “It hurts because we did such a great job defensively on him all night. He shot contested threes (3 for 11 including the banked shot) all night long. We really guarded tonight.”
In the first overtime, the Purple Eagles scored the first six points and held a 77-71 lead with less than a minute to play. “There was 55 seconds left in the first overtime and we hadn't scored yet,” Dempsey said. “I thought it took us a little while to regroup (after the banked three-pointer) and I really challenged our guys, telling them if we were as tough as I thought they were the banked shot would not send us home.”
But Thompson made two foul shots, Ringgold scored inside, Thompson made a three-point play and with 12 seconds left drove to the basket to tie the score at 80-80, sending the game into a second extra period. “We don't go away easily,” Dempsey said, “and that's a tribute to the guys I have in our locker room. They are a hard team to beat.”
“We just didn't want to go home,” Ringgold said. “We just played hard because we didn't want it to end.”
Sophomore Patrick Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham) made his only shot of the night, a three-pointer in the 47th minute, to give the Broncs an 87-84 lead, before Niagara showed how it won 26 games this year.
Bilal Benn, who finished with 20 points and 19 rebounds, made consecutive baskets in the paint to give Niagara an 88-87 lead, the 15th and final lead change of the game.
Benson Egemonye scored six of his 22 points in overtime and also grabbed 11 rebounds for the Purple Eagles. Two foul shots by Anthony Nelson with 25 seconds left gave Niagara a 90-87 lead. Nelson finished with 21 points.
Senior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham) scored with 17 seconds left to cut the lead to 90-89, but that was as close as the Broncs could get. Mansell finished with 10 points and now has 1,314 career points, 15th highest ever at Rider.
With the NIT, the CBI and now the CollegeBasketballInsider.com post-season tournaments, the season may not be over. “We're a post-season team,” Dempsey said, “and I hope somebody recognizes that. This is a 26-win team we played tonight and I don't think there is much difference between the two teams. We won 10 of our last 13 games, five in a row coming into tonight, we've really come into our own, so if we were given an opportunity to play in the post season we'd be a tough team to beat.”
The MAAC semifinal game was a tough game to beat if you are a college basketball fan.
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