Men's College Basketball
Rider University 83, Siena College 72
LAWRENCEVILLE-- For the third time this season the Broncs faced a team that they had lost to earlier this year, and for the third time the Broncs avenged the loss. "We have a saying in our program, 'no sweeps,' and it was written on the board before the game today," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "Sweeps really hurt you, mentally as well as with the tie-breakers."
Senior Jeff Jones (Chester, PA/Monsignor Bonner) scored 18 points and four other Broncs scored in double figures to lead Rider to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Siena Sunday afternoon, avoiding the sweep.
Rider (9-14, 6-5 MAAC) made 12 of 14 foul shots in the final 1:52, four by sophomore Anthony Myles (Dover, DE/Poly-Tech) and five by junior Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones), to preserve the victory. Myles finished with 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
"Myles and Jones played great off the bench," said Siena head coach Mitch Buonaguro. "Jones stepped up and made some big threes."
"Each game is a must win," said Jones, who made five three-pointers Sunday and has now compiled 92 points in the last six games (15.3 ppg). "We don't think about the past and we're not looking ahead to the end of the season, we're just concentrating on today's game."
The victory was the third in a row for the Broncs, all three at home. "We were fortunate to be home, have the crowd behind us and make plays," Dempsey said.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Saints, who had won five out of seven before Sunday.
"This was the type of game I expected," Dempsey said. "Siena has been playing very well and they are a good team right now and in our last few performances we've been playing well. I thought we played well today, but I knew we would have to play well to beat them."
"I thought we played well," Buonaguro said of his Saints.
It was just the third time in the last 11 meetings that the Broncs defeated Siena (10-11, 5-6 MAAC).
Trailing 57-56, Rider went on an 8-2 run, four points each by Jones and sophomore Daniel Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti), to take a 64-59 lead with 5:08 remaining. That was the eighth and final lead change of the game. Stewart finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
Siena out-scored Rider 16-6 to start the second half, nine points by 5'8" freshman Evan Hymes, to take its first lead of the game, 41-40 with 15:35 left to play. Hymes finished with 17 points.
Siena was up by as many as five points, 50-45, with 13:30 left to play. "I felt good when we were up five," Buonaguro said. "But Myles hit a big three. They have so many players."
"We just tried to stay together as a unit," said Myles, "and focus on our goal of winning the game."
"We have seven starters," Dempsey said. "Anthony and Jeff are starters, it is just a matter of trying to balance the line-up. When all of our scorers are on the floor it doesn't always lead to the best brand of basketball."
Rider had over 90 points off the bench in the last two games. "We have a lot of different weapons," Dempsey said. "They have so many good players," said Buonaguro, almost sounding a bit jealous with his six-man rotation.
OD Anosike led Siena with 22 points and 16 rebounds. "All the credit today goes to Rider," said Anosike, the leading rebounder in the nation (12.7) who averages 15.2 points per game, setting a Siena record for 'double-doubles' with 17, which also leads the nation. "They played well and made some big threes."
The Broncs made 11 of 20 three-point attempts, compared to eight of 28 by Siena.
Trailing 22-10, Siena went on an 11-3 run, six points by Hymes, to cut the lead to 25-21, and Rider led 35-27 at the half.
Holding an 11-5 lead, Rider went on a 9-3 run, six points by freshman Junior Fortunat (Quebec, Canada/Roman Catholic), to take a 20-8 lead with 9:14 left in the first half. Fortunat finished with a career-high 10 points, all in the first half. "Fortunat played very well for them in the first half," Buonaguro said. "We knew he has been playing well."
After missing the first 10 games of the season Fortunate has compiled 25 points in his last three games.
Rider jumped out to an 11-3 lead, five points by senior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson). Penn finished with 12 points.
Rider senior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) added 11 points. Freshman Eddie Mitchell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle) added six points and six assists, along with three steals. Thompson finished with five points, five assists and five rebounds.
Rider and Siena have now met 37 times since the series began in 1976-77 with Rider winning 12.
Siena (108) is the only team in the MAAC to win more games than Rider (98) over the last five years.
Rider travels to Loyola Friday night for a game televised on ESPNU. "We're in the best place we've been," Dempsey said of his team's current status. "I loved the last two practices we had in preparation for this game."
After one of the worst starts in program history, the Broncs are 8-4 since December 14. "We've fought through some down times and this home stand (3-0) was big," Dempsey said.
-ru-
