Men's College Basketball
Rider University 61, Loyola University Maryland 60
LAWRENCEVILLE- Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
After playing seven of its last 11 games on the road, including the last three, Rider returned to the friendly confines of Alumni Gymnasium Friday night and won a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game over Loyola in front of a sold out Broncs' Zoo. With the victory Rider has now won 139 of its last 190 games in Alumni Gym (.732).
"It was certainly a great win," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "It was a tough battle between two physical, aggressive MAAC teams."
Rider ranks seventh in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.408) but shot just five of 18 Friday.
"Points were not easy to come by tonight," Dempsey said. "It was a matter of making plays at the end and fighting to the finish."
Freshman Danny Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) made a foul shot with 3.5 seconds left to give Rider the victory, Rider's fourth in the last five games and the 10th in the last 13 games.
Trailing 59-52, Rider (16-8, 8-4 MAAC) scored eight straight points, six by senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) and two by Stewart, to take a 60-59 lead with 49 seconds left. Robinson finished with 15 points, 10 in the final 6:51, and Stewart added 13 points and six rebounds. "Coaches told me I was being too passive and I needed to be more aggressive," Robinson said. "So at the end I just tried to step it up."
"It is big to have a senior point guard," Dempsey said. "That has been the secret to our success."
On the game's final play, Robinson drove to the basket and Stewart cut along the baseline. "It would have been very easy for Justin to shoot a pull-up," Dempsey said, "but he read the defense and he trusted a freshman enough to throw him the ball with three seconds to go in a big game. Danny went up strong, got fouled, and made the foul shot."
"When I drove, Danny was open so I just gave it to him," said Robinson, who had three assists and ranks seventh in Rider career assists with 364. Robinson is also 13th in career scoring at Rider with 1,344 points. Robinson leads the MAAC in free throw percentage, is ranked 22nd nationally, and has now made 33 of his last 34 foul shots.
Stewart is another story from the foul line, shooting 54 percent for the season and was one for five from the foul line Friday night. "There was some pressure at the end," Stewart said, "because I missed my first four. But I knew I would make one of the two. I was confident of that."
Loyola's Robert Olson made one of two foul shots to tie the score at 60-60 with 23 seconds left. Olson finished with 17 points, and teammate Erik Etherly finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
With the score tied at 50-50, Loyola (11-11, 7-5 MAAC) out-scored Rider 9-2, four points by Brian Rudolph, to take a 59-52 lead with 3:19 left to play. Rudolph finished with eight points.
Junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) led the Broncs with 17 points, including his 1,000th. Gadson came into the game needing three points for 1,000 and made a three-point field goal just 1:36 into the game. "That was one of my goals when I first came to Rider," said Gadson. "I'm grateful that I was able to get it at home and in a win."
The Broncs out-scored Loyola 10-2 to start the second half, five points by Gadson, to take a 41-37 lead, Rider's first lead since 18-17.
Rider out-scored Loyola 9-4 over the final 4:21 of the first half, cutting Loyola's half time lead to 35-31.
Trailing 16-9, Loyola went on a 20-4 run, five points by Olson, to take a 29-20 lead with 5:57 left in the first half.
Junior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) added 10 points and six rebounds off the Rider bench.
Sophomore Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones) added four points, four assists and no turnovers. Thompson leads the MAAC and ranks eighth in the nation in assist-turnover ratio.
The Broncs and Greyhounds have now met 36 times since the series began in 1931-32 with Rider winning 21. Since Rider joined the MAAC the Broncs are 16-12 against the Greyhounds, but the Broncs have won just three of the last seven meetings with Loyola.
Rider travels to first place Fairfield for a 3:30 game Super Bowl Sunday. The Broncs lost by nine points to Fairfield three weeks ago.
After the trip to Bridgeport Rider returns to Alumni Gym for four of its final six games.
Home Sweet Home.
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