Men's College Basketball
Rider University 82, Loyola University Maryland 70
BALTIMORE, MD- The Broncs are in second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference but the senior class is second to none in Rider basketball annals.
With Rider's win at Loyola Wednesday night seniors Mike Ringgold and Justin Robinson and graduate student Patrick Mansell have compiled 78 career wins, the most ever in a four-year span in Rider's program history.
"I'm proud of the seniors," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "It is quite an accomplishment. There have been great teams at Rider, great coaches, great players over the years, so for this class to have more wins than anybody else. That's something that they will always be able to take with them when they leave here."
Senior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) scored 14 points and freshman Danny Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) added 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Broncs.
"Mike and Danny are really dominating the paint," Dempsey said. "Both guys were relentless in there. Danny carried us for a while on the glass and when things got tight we threw it in to Mike."
The Broncs are now a best-ever 12-4 on the road, "Just another gutty performance by our guys on the road," Dempsey said.
The Broncs have now won four of their last five, seven of their last nine and 13 of their last 17 games.
In all, six Broncs scored in double figures, as sophomore Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones) added 12 points, freshman Anthony Myles (Dover, DE/Poly-Tech) added 12 points, junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) scored 11 and junior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) scored 10 points.
Rider's bench out-scored Loyola's bench 25-15.
"It was really good to see the bench play well," Dempsey said. "That's going to be a really important element down the stretch. When you get to the MAAC tournament and have to play every day you have to use your bench."
Senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) added eight points and five assists.
Holding a 57-54 lead, Rider (19-9, 11-5 MAAC) out-scored Loyola 17-8, six points by Ringgold, to take a 74-62 lead with 4:15 left to play.
Trailing 41-31, Loyola (13-13, 9-7 MAAC) went on a 10-4 run, four each by Shane Walker and Erik Etherly, to cut the lead to 45-41 with 16:05 left to play. Walker finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Etherly finished with 16 points and nine rebounds.
"They chased us and chased us pretty much all game," Dempsey said. "They made some great runs but every time we had the answer."
Rider out-scored Loyola 8-4 over the final 3:20 of the first half, four points by Gadson, to take a 39-31 lead at intermission.
Holding a 24-22 lead, Rider went on a 7-2 run, five points by Myles, to take a 31-24 lead with 4:27 left in the first half.
Holding a 9-8 lead, Rider out-scored Loyola 10-3 to take a 19-11 lead mid-way through the first half.
Rider jumped out to a 9-2 lead and never trailed. "It was their senior night," Dempsey said. "It was a great environment with a lot of emotion so we knew it was important to get out to a good start and set the tone."
The Broncs have won four of the last eight meetings with Loyola, including a 61-60 win at Rider 12 days ago. The Broncs and Greyhounds have now met 37 times since the series began in 1931-32 with Rider winning 22. Since Rider joined the MAAC the Broncs are 17-12 against the Greyhounds, including 1-0 in postseason.
The old record of 77 wins over four years was held by Rider Hall of Famer Deon Hames, who played for the Broncs 1993-96.
The game Wednesday was Rider's 250th MAAC contest. The Broncs also won their first (over Loyola), their 100th (over Siena) and their 200th (over Iona) MAAC games.
Rider hosts Delaware Saturday afternoon in the Sears BracketBuster game at 4pm. "Delaware had a good win last night against Northeastern," Dempsey said. 'They are having a good year, a much better year than they've had the previous couple of years. They are going in the right direction as a program. It should be a tough game for us."
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