Men's College Basketball
Rider University 65, Manhattan College 64
RIVERDALE, NY- Junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) ranks second in the league in offensive rebounds and collected the biggest one of the season so far with a tip-in with 6.2 seconds left, giving Rider a much-needed 65-64 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win at Manhattan Monday night. "We knew we needed a win," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "We played hard and fought. We hung in there and competed."
Junior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) compiled 17 points and four assists to lead Rider (9-7, 2-2 MAAC). "Justin was playing great," Dempsey said.
Trailing 60-56, Rider out-scored Manhattan (6-8, 1-3 MAAC) 9-4 over the final 4:16 of the game, including a basket by Robinson with 1:06 left that cut the Jasper lead to 64-63.
Trailing 49-37, Rider went on a 17-4 run, six points by senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape), to take a 54-53 lead with 8:37 left to play. That was Rider's first lead since 4-2. Thompson finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists in 40 minutes of action.
"We needed this win," Thompson said. "Hopefully this will kick-start us."
Rider made seven of 10 three-point field goals in the second half and was eight for 15 for the game. "That made a big difference," Dempsey said. "We've struggled to put the ball in the basket from beyond the arc. We've lacked momentum, energy, and shooting the threes gave that to us tonight. We have some good shooters and we'll be a better shooting team over the second half of the year."
Rider out-scored the Jaspers 47-30 over the final 20 minutes and 1.1 seconds. The Broncs scored five points in the final 1.1 seconds of the first half, as Thompson made a pair of foul shots and Robinson stole the inbounds pass and made a three-pointer at the half time buzzer. "That helped because it gave us a fighter's chance in the second half," Dempsey said.
Ringgold finished with nine points and six rebounds and sophomore Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) compiled 14 points and 13 rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
"We needed this win to get our swagger back," Ringgold said. "Now we're moving in the right direction."
With 15 seconds left, Thompson drove the lane and passed to Gadson. Gadson's shot did not fall and Ringgold tipped the ball twice. The second tip seemed to bounce on the rim for an eternity before falling with 6.2 remaining. "We have the best offensive rebounder in the league (Ringgold)," Dempsey said. "It was a good play by Mike. He had a long night but he hung in and made the game-winner."
"The player guarding me was watching the ball on Novar's shot so I was able to weave in and get a hand on it," Ringgold said. "It seemed to be up there forever and I was praying it would go in."
"Fortunately it did fall and maybe that was the break we've needed," Dempsey said.
"It was such a big lift that we needed," Thompson said of Ringgold's tip in. "Watching that ball bounce around four or five times, finally seeing it go in was such a lift."
Sophomore Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) added seven points and three rebounds in 19 minutes.
Manhattan jumped out to a 17-7 lead, 13 by Rico Pickett, and led 34-23 at the half. Pickett finished with a game-high 25 points. "It would have been easy to give in tonight when a lot of things did not go our way," Dempsey said. "If we didn't have good character we would not have been able to come back and find a way to get out of here with a win."
Rider out-rebounded Manhattan 39-36, including 19-13 in the second half. "I felt that was a big key," Dempsey said. "In the first half they were beating us to more balls, beating us on the glass, they were winning the loose ball battle. We won those battles in the second half and that was the key."
With the win Rider has now beaten Manhattan five of the last six meetings. These two teams have now met 34 times since the series began in 1929-30 with each team winning 17. Since Rider joined the MAAC the Broncs are 16-11 against the Jaspers, 15-10 in regular season play.
Rider lost the last meeting with Manhattan, 73-68 in Riverdale.
Manhattan was playing its first home game since November. Manhattan was 3-1 at home before Monday.
After six consecutive games on the road the Broncs host Iona Saturday, January 9 at 3pm. "It feels good to end this road trip at 3-3," Dempsey said.
"We'll be happy to be home," Ringgold said.
"After a six game road trip it will be great to be playing at the Broncs' Zoo again," Thompson said.
"We have a long way to go," Dempsey said. "We haven't been happy with the way we've been playing. The last thing I wrote on the board in the locker room was 'whatever it takes' knowing that we'll find our way out of our struggles but we had to find a way to win this game and we did."
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