Men's College Basketball
University of Northern Iowa 84, Rider University 50
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA-The 2011 basketball season came to an end in the first round of the CollegegInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) Tuesday night, as the shorthanded Broncs lost to Northern Iowa.
"We went into this tournament with the mindset of trying to rally the seniors for one more win and for the younger players to experience playing in a hostile environment," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
Hostile it was.
UNI (20-13) jumped out to a 15-0 lead, nine points by sophomore guard Anthony James, and never looked back. James finished with a team-high 15 points. "We ran into a very good team that played well and they jumped us from the start," Dempsey said.
The host Panthers, who went to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 last year, led 31-11 with 8:26 left in the first half and led 47-20 at the half. "We certainly hoped we would have competed better," Dempsey said.
For Rider (23-11), with just eight players, junior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) scored a game-high 18 points and added four rebounds.
Senior Justin Robinson (London, England/Blair Academy) scored 12 points and finishes his career with 1,480 points, 10th most ever at Rider. Robinson also graduates with 394 assists, sixth most ever at Rider.
Trailing 54-25, Rider out-scored UNI 11-4, six points by sophomore Dera Nd-Ezuma (Nigeria/Life Center Academy), to cut the lead to 55-36 with 11 minutes remaining, but that was as close as the Broncs could get. "I thought the guys tried to rally in the second half," Dempsey said. "To come out of here with some respect."
Senior Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), still not 100 percent after suffering injuries in the MAAC tournament, added four points and three rebounds and graduates with 1,386 points, 14th most ever at Rider and 789 career rebounds, fifth most among Broncs.
Robinson and Ringgold graduate with a program record 82 wins, the most ever at Rider over a four-year span. "They had a great run," Dempsey said. "The one thing missing from their resume is the NCAA Tournament, but they won a lot of games and did go to three postseason tournaments."
Rider was playing without Second Team All-MAAC junior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram), who underwent knee surgery Tuesday, and sophomore Jonathon Thompson.
UNI made 13 three-pointers, including 10 of 18 in the first half.
Senior Patrick Mansell (Cheltenham, Pa./Cheltenham) added three points in his final game.
Freshman Anthony Myles (Dover, DE/Poly-Tech) added five points and five rebounds.
Freshman Danny Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) compiled a team-high seven rebounds.
The 23 wins this season tied the Rider record for wins in a season. "It's hard right now to focus on all of the positives we experienced this year," Dempsey said as his team lost its last two games after winning six in a row, eight of nine and 17 of 21 games. "When we get past the sting of the last two games we'll look back on it as a positive year, but that's hard to do now, being so disappointed on how the season ended."
This was Rider's third postseason tournament in the last four years, playing in the CBI in 2008 against Old Dominion and the CIT in 2009 at Liberty.
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