Men's College Basketball
Rider University 77, La Salle University 68
PHILADELPHIA, PA-There are four Rider Broncs who agree with Jon Bon Jovi when he asks "Who says you can't go home?"
Junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) tied his career-high with 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and senior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) added 18 points and seven rebounds, to lead Rider to victory at La Salle Wednesday night.
Junior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) added 10 points and freshman Danny Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) added nine points and seven rebounds in the City of Brotherly Love homecoming.
"It's always good to come back home and play in front of friends and family," said Gadson, who made all six of his foul shots and added two assists a steal and a block. "The main thing is to get back to playing good basketball, which we did tonight."
"In all of the games we've played in Philly since I've been at Rider this is the first time we've won one," said Ringgold, who helped Rider defeat both Saint Joseph's and Drexel in his career but both of those games were in Lawrenceville.
Ringgold made nine of 13 shots from the field. Ringgold is 50th in the nation in field goal percentage (.555).
"It certainly was nice for me to win in Philly," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey, "and for our program. I've made a concentrated effort to recruit Philadelphia. There are so many good players here and the Big 5 can't get them all. Rider is a great place for a Philly kid to go to school."
The Broncs out-scored La Salle 44-34 in the second half. "I thought in the second half we played really good basketball," said Dempsey. "Bringing a lot of Philly kids home brought a lot of excitement in the first half. In the second half we settled in and played good basketball."
Rider (8-5) led 59-57 before going on a 12-3 run, four points by Gadson, to take a 71-60 lead with 4:43 left to play.
Trailing 54-49, Rider out-scored La Salle 8-0, four points by Gadson, to take a 57-54 lead with 8:52 left to play.
Rider led 47-42 before La Salle went on a 12-2 run, six points by Ruben Guillandeaux, to take a 54-49 lead. Guillandeaux finished with 10 points.
Jerrell Williams led La Salle (6-6) with 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Aaric Murray added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The game saw nine lead changes and 10 ties. "It was a 40-minute fight and we were up for it," Dempsey said. "It took a great effort."
Trailing 23-16, La Salle went on a 12-2 run, eight points by Sam Mills, to take a 28-25 lead, and the Explorers led 34-33 at the half. Mills finished with 10 points.
Rider trailed 16-15 before out-scoring La Salle 8-0, six points by Penn, to take a 23-16 lead with eight minutes left in the first half.
Rider jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the first 6:30, nine points by Gadson.
The victory was Rider's fourth in the last six games. Rider is now 5-3 away from Alumni Gym. "We're a good road team," Dempsey said. "We have been the last couple of years. I feel very comfortable taking this team on the road. They are playing well together. They're tough kids."
Senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) had seven assists but just seven points. "Justin didn't have his offense going tonight but he had seven assists and played solid defense," Dempsey said. "Your offense might not be there every night but your energy has to be and Justin still contributed to this win tonight."
The Broncs and Explorers are former East Coast Conference rivals (1974-75 to 1982-1983) and Middle Atlantic Conference rivals (1966-67 to 1972-73). Rider and La Salle have now met 30 times since the series began in 1932-33, with Rider winning seven.
La Salle won the last three meetings, 69-60 last year, 92-75 at La Salle in 2008-09 and in the 1983 ECC playoffs in Easton, PA (at Lafayette). The last time Rider defeated La Salle was January 31, 1983 at La Salle's Hayman Hall, the first time the Explorers ever lost in the old campus gym (playing most of their games at the Palestra or Civic Center).
The Broncs are eighth in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.425) but shot just .267 (4 for 15) from beyond the arc.
Overall, Rider shot .492 (31-63) from the field. Rider is 22nd in the nation in field goal percentage (.487).
Rider is off for Christmas before traveling to the nation's capital to take on Howard December 28.
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