Men's College Basketball
Iona College 69, Rider University 49
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Iona Saturday. "We're in a tough place right now," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "We're not playing well and we can't get it going."
Holding a 45-38 lead, Iona (10-6, 2-3 MAAC) out-scored Rider 17-7 to take a 62-45 lead with 2:00 left to play.
Iona sophomore guard Scott Machado led all scorers with 24 points, making 11 of 14 foul shots. Junior forward Alejo Rodriguez scored just two points but grabbed 17 rebounds, as the Gaels out-rebounded Rider 50-32. "Because we were fighting their press there were a lot of times when we were not in good rebound position," Dempsey said. "The press also had us playing small a lot so we didn't have our big line up out there much."
The 20-point loss was the worst for Rider at home since losing 89-66 to Marist on January 15, 2006. "It's hard to find a lot of positives," Dempsey said.
Rider had won 26 of its last 31 home games before Saturday. Rider had won the last five meetings with Iona and six of the last seven.
For Rider (9-8, 2-3 MAAC) senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) compiled 14 points and four assists in 32 minutes of action before fouling out.
"We were excited to play at home," Thompson said after Rider played six straight road games, "but we let them come in and take it from us. We need to get our offense going, starting with me. Everybody is going hard and we're trying to turn this thing around. We were prepared for this game. We just didn't make shots. It would have been a whole different game if the tip ins, the lay ups, the foul shots, that normally go in did."
Junior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) added 10 points and six rebounds. "We need to play harder on offense," Robinson said. "We were well prepared for their press but it still took us out of our offense. The press made us play fast and we never got a rhythm."
"I think we are together, the players want to be good, it's just not going well," Dempsey said.
Rider shot 33 percent from the field (17-52). "The ball just isn't going in on game day," Dempsey said. "We're missing lay ups, we're missing free throws. It is hard to play good basketball when the ball doesn't go in."
Junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) contributed seven points and eight rebounds for the Broncs. Freshman Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones) added seven points, three rebounds and two assists.
Rider was the best foul shooting team in the MAAC (.709) but made just 11 of 22 on Saturday.
Iona has won six of its last eight games, including a win at Providence and a MAAC win over Niagara. Rider has lost five of its last eight. "We're trying to play ourselves out of a funk and it just hasn't happened yet," Dempsey said. "When it does we'll start getting some wins again."
Trailing 13-9, Iona went on an 11-2 run to take a 20-15 lead. Iona scored the final seven points of the first half and led 37-26 at intermission.
Rider travels to Marist Monday. "We just have to keep pushing," Dempsey said. "Hopefully we'll play ourselves out of it."
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