Men's College Basketball
University of Pittsburgh 87, Rider University 68
PITTSBURGH, PA-The Broncs went on the road to face one of the top teams in the nation. Rider did not win the game, but the Broncs battled and did themselves proud.
"Pitt is one of the finest teams in the country but I thought we fought," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "We came here to give them a fight and I thought our guys were very competitive. There were many more positives than negatives. I was proud of our team."
Despite a career-high 24 points by senior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), the Broncs lost to the third ranked Pitt Panthers Saturday afternoon. "Mike was terrific," Dempsey said. Ringgold made 12 of 16 field goal attempts.
Holding a 49-36 lead, Pitt (9-0) went on a 13-3 run, seven points by senior guard Brad Wanamaker, to take a 62-39 lead with 12:37 left, but could never add on to that lead. "Several times it looked like it was going to get ugly," Dempsey said, "but that challenges your heart and your pride. We wanted to leave here with some respect and hopefully we did."
Wanamaker, a former Philadelphia Player of the Year at Roman Catholic and a high school teammate of Ringgold, finished with 16 points and 11 assists. "Brad has turned himself into a terrific guard," Dempsey said.
Holding a 13-11 lead, Pitt went on an 11-2 run, three points by junior guard Ashton Gibbs, to take a 24-13 lead with 7:37 left in the first half, and Pitt led 42-29 at the half.
"They are one of the biggest, physical teams in the country and the points in the paint were even at 34 each team," Dempsey said.
Gibbs, a Second Team All-East selection last year who was named the Big East's Most Improved Player, finished with 16 points.
Playing its fourth game in eight days, Rider (5-4) jumped out to a 7-2 lead, four points by Ringgold. "We played Thursday and traveled yesterday," Dempsey said, "but we came out as a determined group."
Four Broncs scored in double figures, as junior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) compiled 11 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes of action.
Senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) scored 11 points, all in the second half. "Justin continued to fight through what he probably considered a poor performance," Dempsey said, "but he fought and kept us fighting in the second half. He defended and he led our team."
Junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) added 10 points and five rebounds.
"A lot of guys played hard," Dempsey said. "It wasn't meant to be but there was a lot of fight in us."
Pitt is now 5-0 at home this year. "They can win a national championship because they don't make a lot of mistakes," Dempsey said. "They don't turn it over (six turnovers), they don't make it easy to score and they are a terrific rebounding team." Pitt out-rebounded Rider 35-25. "Those are key ingredients to winning a national championship and they have those things."
Rider made just seven of 21 (33.3) three-point shots. "For us to have a chance in a game like this we would have had to shoot the three better," Dempsey said. "But we did establish the inside game. Overall we did almost everything we wanted to do on this trip. We needed to learn more about ourselves. We were able to execute fairly well. We'll take something from this and get ready for the next game."
The Broncs return home to host UMBC Wednesday night.
-ru-
