Men's College Basketball
Rider University 96, Fairfield University 87
BRIDGEPORT, CT- Even though country music's popularity is at an all-time high, it is still rare to see it on the play list of most college basketball players. It would not be surprising, however, to hear Willie Nelson's On the Road Again coming from the Rider Broncs' iPods.
With Rider's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win at Fairfield Sunday, the Broncs are now a best-ever 11-4 on the road, including 6-1 when visiting MAAC institutions.
"We've won a lot of road games," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
Mad Max should be such a road warrior.
Senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) scored 26 points and junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) added 21 to lead Rider.
Holding a 75-72 lead, Rider (17-8, 9-4 MAAC) went on a 12-3 run, four points by sophomore Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones), to take an 87-75 lead with 2:31 left to play. Thompson finished with 13 points, six assists, four steals and three blocked shots. Thompson is eighth in the nation in assist-turnover ratio.
Rider has now won five of its last six games and 11 of its last 14.
The loss ended the Stags' six-game winning streak and was just the second loss for Fairfield since Thanksgiving. Fairfield (18-5, 11-2 MAAC) is now 9-2 at home.
Trailing 65-52, Fairfield out-scored Rider 20-10, seven points by Colin Nickerson, to cut the lead to 75-72 with 4:50 left to play. Nickerson finished with 12 points. "They made a run and we were in foul trouble," Dempsey said. "We were limping to the finish, but there was a lot of togetherness, a lot of calmness on our players' part when they were making their run."
Trailing 53-30, Fairfield went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 57-43 with 12:16 left to play.
Rider out-scored Fairfield 10-5 to start the second half, seven by Gadson, to take a 57-35 lead with 16:37 left to play.
Holding a 21-17 lead, Rider went on a 16-4 run, 12 points by Robinson, to take a 37-21 lead with 6:06 left in the first half, and Rider led 47-30 at intermission.
Rider jumped out to a 14-8 lead, seven points by Gadson.
Senior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) scored 17 points for the Broncs, including tying his career high of seven foul shots.
Rider made a season high 30 of 42 foul shots, including 18 of 23 in the final 8:19 of the game. Robinson was nine for 10 from the line. Robinson has made 42 of his last 44 foul shots.
Freshman Danny Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) added 11 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Anthony Myles (Dover, DE/Poly-Tech) added eight points.
"A lot of different guys stepped up and played well today," Dempsey said.
7' junior forward Ryan Olander led Fairfield with 23 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Derek Needham added 14 points but made just four of 18 field goal attempts, guarded by Thompson. "If I was going to single anybody out it would be Jon," Dempsey said. "Holding Needham to four for 18 along with Jon's offense tonight, he was outstanding."
Fairfield has the best defense in the MAAC (55.4) and beat Rider by eight points (65-57) on January 17 at Rider. "The first time we played them we allowed them to dictate the tempo," Dempsey said, "Our game plan today was to come up here and pretty much play with our hair on fire."
Rider returns home to host Canisius Friday. Canisius has never won in Alumni Gym (0-13). The Broncs host Niagara Sunday. "If we can take care of business next weekend we'll be in the hunt," Dempsey said.
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