Men's College Basketball
Rider University 88, Fairfield University 80
BRIDGEPORT, CT-Your mission, Mr. Dempsey, should you decide to accept it, is to go back on the road for the 16th time in 24 games, to take on the second place team in your league and win a third straight game for the first time in almost two months.
Senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Rider to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Fairfield at the Arena at Harbor Yard Saturday afternoon. "This was a big one," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "The players came out with a ton of energy, a ton of emotion. We came here on a mission to get a win."
Mission Accomplished!
Holding a 58-55 lead, Rider (13-11, 6-6 MAAC) out-scored Fairfield 20-7, 13 by Thompson, to take a 78-62 lead with 8:33 left to play. "Ryan was terrific," Dempsey said. "He just played so well all night long."
Rider led 82-78 before out-scoring Fairfield (15-7, 8-4 MAAC) 6-2 over the final 54 seconds, three points by Thompson.
Thompson made a career-high 15 of 16 foul shots. "He got to the line and he made a couple of threes," Dempsey added.
The victory is Rider's third in a row, the first time Rider won three straight since November 28-December 6. The loss knocks Fairfield out of second place and moves Rider into fifth place in the MAAC. "We knew this was an important game for us today," Dempsey said. "We wanted to keep things rolling. I'm very proud of the effort and energy tonight."
The Stags were 8-1 at home and had won three of last four and seven of their last 10 games before Saturday. "I felt we played good, hard, physical basketball," Dempsey said. "Fairfield is a big, strong team. I knew if we could rebound and score inside we'd have a good chance. We did both of those things."
Both teams had 32 rebounds and Fairfield just barely out-scored Rider in the paint, 38-36.
Rider out-scored Fairfield 14-8 in the first six minutes of the second half, six points by junior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy), to take a 56-45 lead. Robinson finished with 15 points.
Robinson out-scored Fairfield 8-0 over the final 1:32 of the first half to give Rider a 42-37 lead at intermission.
Fairfield's 6'8" senior forward Mike Evanovich made his first eight three-point field goal attempts, a Fairfield record, and had 18 points in the first half for Fairfield. "That's difficult for a team to fight off," Dempsey said, "but he was eight for eight and we still had the lead, so that shows that we were playing real well."
Evanovich finished with 24 points.
Rider led 78-62 with 5:30 left before Fairfield went on a 12-0 run, six points by freshman sensation Derek Needham, to cut the lead to 78-74 with 2:14 left to play.
"The end was hectic," Dempsey said. "With the big lead they trapped us and we did not handle the trap well."
Needham finished with 20 points, 10 assists and five rebounds for Fairfield. Needham is the top freshman in the conference, averaging 15.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Fairfield was eight for 14 in the first half from three-point range but finished 11 for 26, while Rider was three of seven three-pointers in the first half and finished 8 for 15.
Rider led 16-10 before Fairfield went on an 11-3 run, nine points coming on three consecutive three-pointers by Evanovich, to take a 21-19 lead with 9:20 left in the first half. Rider went on a 7-0 run to take a 26-21 lead with 5:38 left in the half.
Sophomore Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) compiled 14 points and six rebounds, including four free throws in the final 1:52 to help preserve the win. Junior Jhamar Youngblood (Elizabeth, N.J./St. Patrick's) added 11 points, while junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) added nine points.
Thompson, the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, has now compiled 56 points over the last two games. "Ryan stepped up and is doing what we all expected him to do," Dempsey said. "He takes a lot of pressure off of the other players."
Robinson ranks sixth in the nation in free throw percentage (.922). Robinson made 22 consecutive free throws before missing one Saturday. Earlier this season he made 26 straight.
Rider and Fairfield have now met 45 times since the series began in 1951-52, with Rider winning 22. The Broncs have won six of the last seven with the Stags.
Rider lost 88-76 on February 16, 2008 here at the Arena at Harbor Yard. Rider won in Harbor Yard in 2006-07 with two foul shots with 1.9 seconds left for the come-from-behind 64-63 win. Last year Rider defeated Fairfield in the Stags' Alumni Hall campus gym.
Rider hosts Loyola February 5. Five of the remaining six MAAC games are in Rider's Alumni Gymnasium. "We survived 11 of our last 14 on the road, which is a lot to ask of a team," Dempsey said, "and we're still standing."
The message of the impossible mission was the only thing to self-destruct.
-ru-
