Men's College Basketball
Fairfield University 65, Rider University 57
LAWRENCEVILLE- On the day we celebrate the life of the man with a dream, the Rider Broncs' nightmare continued with a second consecutive loss at home.
"We didn't feel like we played well tonight," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey, "but I think our opponent had a lot to do with that. Fairfield is a very good defensive team." Fairfield has the best defense in the conference, allowing just 54 points per game.
Sophomore guard Derek Needham compiled 27 points and five assists to lead Fairfield to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory at Rider Monday night. "We tried to not let him beat us, but he had 27 in a low scoring game," Dempsey said. "He's a first Team All-League player, and that's the way he played tonight."
The score was tied at 51-51 before the Stags out-scored Rider 9-2, three points by Needham, to take a 60-53 lead. Fairfield (13-4, 6-1 MAAC) made seven of eight foul shots in the final 2:14, three by Needham, to preserve the victory.
With the win, Fairfield has now won 12 of its last 13 games. Rider came into the game having won eight of its last 11.
Trailing 46-38, Rider (12-7, 4-3 MAAC) out-scored Fairfield 12-4, five points by senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy), to tie the score at 50-50 with 7:20 remaining. "We responded, coming back to tie the game," Dempsey said. "We got ourselves back into position to win, we just didn't close."
Robinson finished with 12 points. "We're frustrated right now," Robinson said. "We had our chances. When we tied it up we expected to win this game."
Junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) led the Broncs with 17 points and five rebounds. "We need to come together as a team and learn from this," said Gadson, who has compiled 127 points (18.1 per game) and 48 rebounds (6.9 per game) over his last seven games. "We had our chances to win tonight."
Freshman Danny Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) added eight points and 11 rebounds for the Broncs.
Averaging just 3.8 three-pointers made per game, the Stags made nine of 19 three-pointers Monday, including seven of 11 in the first half.
Maurice Barrow added 11 points and 13 rebounds for Fairfield.
Holding a 19-17 lead, Fairfield out-scored Rider 15-4, four points by Barrow, to take a 34-23 lead with 4:20 left in the first half and led 37-28 at intermission.
Rider senior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) added six points, six rebounds and five assists.
Fairfield jumped out to a 10-4 lead, eight points by Needham. "Needham got off to a great start," Dempsey said. "He got himself into a nice rhythm."
Rider and Fairfield have now met 47 times since the series began in 1951-52, with Rider winning 22, including six of the last nine. Rider is 15-13 against Fairfield since joining the MAAC, including 1-0 in postseason (2005 semifinals).
Rider hosts Marist Thursday.
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