Men's College Basketball
University of Pennsylvania 78, Rider University 72 (o.t.)
LAWRENCEVILLE--Despite a career-high 26 points by sophomore Daniel Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti), the Broncs lost in overtime to Penn as part of the Philly Hoop Group Classic Thursday night.
"A tough loss, very disappointing," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
Rider (0-4) senior Jeff Jones (Chester, PA/Monsignor Bonner) made a three-point field goal with 41.5 seconds left to cut the lead to 74-72, but that was as close as the Broncs could get. Jones finished with 19 points off the bench.
Trailing 62-61, Penn (2-1) out-scored Rider 9-3, three points by Miles Cartwright, to take a 70-65 lead with 1:57 left in overtime. Cartwright finished with 27 points. "We didn't play too well in overtime," Dempsey said.
Penn scored the final four points of regulation, two points by Zack Rosen with 1:14 left and two by Cartwright with 37 seconds left, to tie the score at 59 and send the game into overtime. Rosen finished with 19, all coming after halftime. "We did such a great job on Rosen for so long," Dempsey said, "but eventually he got it going. He took the game over and kept them in it."
Rosen was the Ivy League Player of the Week the first week of the season, entering the Rider game with a 26.5 ppg average, but was not able to get off a single shot in the first 20 minutes of the game. "He's a great player so he eventually scored," Dempsey said. "He made some difficult shots."
Trailing 36-31, Rider went on a 16-5 run, four points by Jones, to take a 47-41 lead with 7:56 remaining in the second half.
Penn out-scored Rider 12-3 to start the second half, eight points by Cartwright, taking a 36-31 lead with 15:36 left to play.
Trailing 19-9, Rider out-scored Penn 19-5 over the final 5:04 of the first half, eight points by Jones, to take a 28-24 lead at intermission.
Penn jumped out to a 9-1 lead, five points by Tyler Bernardini, and built a 17-7 lead after 13 minutes of play. Bernardini finished with 14 points. "The game really got off to a slow start," Dempsey said, 'but after the first 10 minutes it turned into a pretty good basketball game."
Sophomore Anthony Myles (Dover, DE/Poly-Tech) added 10 points for Rider.
Stewart had 12 of Rider's first 22 points and made a career-high 18 of 24 foul shots for the game. "Whenever I got the ball I went to the rim hard and they kept on fouling me," said Stewart, who also grabbed seven rebounds.
"Danny kept us in the game," Dempsey said. "He gave us a big game." Stewart played 40 minutes.
The last time Rider was 0-4 was the start of the 1996-97 season. "Rider is a very talented team," said Penn head coach Jerome Allen. "We knew they would battle hard tonight after starting the season 0-3."
"We never thought we'd be 0-4 with this group," Stewart said, "but we're going to figure it out."
"Tough start to our season," Dempsey said. "We felt we needed to get one tonight. We didn't play particularly well but I still thought we had a good chance to pull it out."
The game was Rider's fourth in six days, so the last thing Rider needed was an overtime game. "The schedule has been difficult," Dempsey said, "but that is just one factor. We haven't really practiced, which is another factor. This team needs practice and we haven't been able to do so."
The Broncs and Quakers have now met three times, with Rider winning the first two times, also in overtime. Rider won 77-72 here in Alumni Gym during the 2003-04 season and the Broncs won 74-68 at the Palestra during the 2004-05 season.
The Quakers began the season with a 14 point win at UMBC November 11 before losing in overtime to Temple at the Palestra on Monday.
Thursday's game was Rider's second of four games in the Philly Hoop Group Classic. In the first game of the Classic Rider led Pitt with 5:00 left before falling to the 10th ranked Panthers by eight points in Pittsburgh November 13. The next two Rider games in the Classic will take place at the Palestra, against James Madison (November 25) and La Salle (November 26).
Rider hosts Howard Monday night in the Broncs' Zoo. Rider won 78-64 at Howard last season. "Now we need to pick up the pieces and try to become a better team," Dempsey said.
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