Men's College Basketball
Rider University 68, Siena College 60
ALBANY, NY- The temperature in Albany was in single digits Monday night and the shooting inside the Times Union Center was almost as cold, but the Broncs prevailed.
Rider is fifth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.417) but shot just .318 (7-22) and Rider is 13th in the nation in field goal percentage (.486) but shot just .421 (24-57).
Siena shot just .296 from the field. "There weren't a lot of style points out there tonight," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "I don't think either team played particularly well."
Senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) scored 19 points to lead four Broncs in double figures, as Rider won a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Siena. "Robinson is one of the best players in the league," said Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro.
"My teammates did a good job of finding me," said Robinson, who made five of nine three-pointers and was six for 12 from the field. Robinson is 21st in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.429).
Robinson also made both of his foul shots and has now made 25 of his last 26 foul shots and is 20th in the nation in free throw percentage (.892).
Trailing 47-46, Rider (14-7, 6-3 MAAC) out-scored Siena 13-5, four points by senior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), to take a 59-52 lead with 2:41 left to play. Ringgold finished with 13 points. "We had enough stops down the stretch to win," Dempsey said.
Rider made seven of eight foul shots in the final 1:39 to preserve the victory.
"They made the plays in the last three minutes and we didn't," Buonaguro said.
Siena senior forward Ryan Rossiter, the MAAC preseason player of the year, led all scorers with 26 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. "He's a great player," Dempsey said. "We made him work for those points." Rossiter shot eight for 20 from the field.
Trailing 35-20 early in the second half, Siena (7-12, 4-5 MAAC) went on a 16-0 run, six points by Owen Wignot, his first six points of the game, to take a 36-35 lead with 13:25 left to play. Wignot finished with nine points. "You have to give the Siena players a lot of credit," Dempsey said. "Owen stepped up and made a couple of shots and then they loosened up and got into a nice rhythm."
Also for Rider, junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) compiled 16 points and 10 rebounds. Gadson made five of six foul shots in the final 1:39 and was eight for 11 from the line for the game.
Gadson has compiled 153 points (17.0) and 62 rebounds (6.7) over the last nine games and now has 977 career points.
Sophomore Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones) added 14 points off the Rider bench. "Jon might have been the difference," Dempsey said. Thompson made five of seven shots from the field and had two assists and two steals in 30 minutes.
Freshman Danny Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) grabbed eight rebounds and had a career-high five blocked shots to go along with his four points. Stewart has compiled 41 rebounds in his last four games.
Holding a 21-16 lead, Rider out-scored Siena 9-2 over the final 3:50 of the first half, three points by Robinson, to take a 30-18 lead at intermission.
Holding an 11-10 lead, Rider out-scored Siena 8-0 to take a 19-10 lead with 6:34 left in the first half.
Rider had not won at the Times Union Center since the 2007-08 season and had lost its last four meetings with the Saints, the three-time defending MAAC Champions. "It's no secret that they've had our number lately," Dempsey said. "We hadn't beaten them up here since my freshman year," Robinson said, "so it was nice to get them as a senior, in my last trip here."
The game was televised on the Madison Square Garden network. Rider is now 4-3 on television this year and is 9-3 on the road.
Rider travels to Iona Thursday. If it is not any warmer, the Broncs won't mind, as long as the outcome is the same.
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