Men's College Basketball
Loyola University Maryland 80, Rider University 73
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Loyola Friday night. The loss snaps Rider's three-game winning streak. "We just didn't play well enough to win," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
Trailing 60-58, Loyola (11-12, 4-9 MAAC) out-scored Rider 10-0, four points by Brian Rudolph, to take a 68-60 lead with 8:50 left to play. That was the seventh and final lead change of the game. Rudolph finished with 12 points. "I thought Loyola played very well," Dempsey said.
Rider (13-12, 6-7 MAAC) cut the lead to 75-73 with 2:35 remaining on a basket by junior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) but that was as close as the Broncs could get. Robinson finished with a game-high 19 points, as five Broncs scored in double figures.
"We came up small in some big spots tonight," Dempsey said. "Free throws, open shots that needed to go in and didn't. Big momentum plays in the game seemed to go in their favor."
Loyola guard Brett Harvey led five Loyola players in double figures with 15 points. "they had a lot of contributions from a lot of guys," Dempsey said.
"We didn't have Brett Harvey for much of January," Patsos said. "Tonight he played 31 minutes and we won. That is not a coincidence."
Rider out-scored Loyola 8-0, four points by junior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), to take a 32-30 lead with 7:30 left in the first half and the Broncs led 45-43 at half time. Ringgold finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. "I thought the first half was a really good basketball game," Dempsey said. "We didn't play well enough in the second half to win. They out-played us in the second half."
Rider shot 27.6 percent from the field (8-29) in the second half. "That's not getting it done," Dempsey said.
Loyola out-scored Rider 16-0, 12 points coming on four three-pointers by J'hared Hall, to take a 20-15 lead with 13:45 left in the first half. Hall finished with 14 points. "J'harded really stepped it up in the stretch," Patsos said.
Rider jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the first three minutes of the game, eight points by Robinson. "This was a game we really needed and should have won," Robinson said.
Along with his 19 points Robinson had three rebounds and three steals. "Justin has played like that all year," Dempsey said. "He gave us another good game."
Senior Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape) finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists for Rider. Thompson is now seventh in career scoring at Rider with 1,701 points. "Overall, Loyola is a good defensive team," Thompson said, "but a lot of the shots we missed tonight usually fall for us but they weren't today. We just let this one get away from us."
Sophomore Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) added 10 points and six rebounds while sophomore Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) scored a career-high 11 points in 19 minutes off the bench.
Loyola forward Shane Walker added 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Greyhounds have now beaten Rider three of the last four and eight of the last ten. "They have had our number," Dempsey said. "We're having a hard time beating this team."
Rider is now 5-4 at home this season. Rider will host Niagara Monday night at 7pm. Four of the remaining five MAAC games are at home. "We can't hang our heads," Thompson said. "We have to turn the page and get ready for the next one."
"Now it is really important that we re-group," Dempsey said. "We don't feel great right now. This is how you feel after a loss. If we can win on Monday we'll feel better. It should be a great game and we have to bounce back."
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