Men's College Basketball
Rider University 99, Marist College 86
LAWRENCEVILLE--The Penn truly is mightier.
Senior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) was named the Rider Athlete of the Month for December and is the early favorite for the award in January as well.
After compiling a 'double-double' in a win at Manhattan January 2, Penn scored 24 points, tying his career-high with six three-pointers, to lead Rider to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Marist Friday night.
After a 3-11 2011, the Broncs are 2-0 in 2012. "Another pretty good performance," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. "We're certainly going in the right direction. It took us a while to figure things out."
Rider (5-11, 2-2 MAAC) is 4-1 in its last five games.
Rider lost at Marist by 20 points on December 4. "We certainly couldn't let them come in here and sweep us," said Penn. "We had to try to get them back, especially the way they beat us up there."
"Two games in a row, against teams that beat us, to be up 24 points late in the game is a real sign of growth," Dempsey said. Rider lost to Manhattan by 16 points in December and beat the Jaspers by 10 on January 2. "That's what we've been looking for, signs of growth. Those two teams kicked our butt the first time around."
Penn has now compiled 92 points and 47 rebounds in his last five games. "Thankfully things have been going my way a little," Penn said. "As long as I keep doing the things I know I can do, not try to do too much, I think I'll be able to end my career here in a good way."
Rider out-scored Marist 11-5 to start the second half, six points by Penn, to take a 56-29 lead with 17:18 left to play.
Trailing 84-64, Marist (7-8, 2-2 MAAC) out-scored Rider 9-2, six points by R. J. Hall, to cut the lead to 86-73 with 4:19 left to play, but that was as close as the Red Foxes could get.
Rider led 31-22 before out-scoring Marist 14-2 over the final 6:11 of the first half, four points each by freshman Eddie Mitchell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle) and junior Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones), to take a 45-24 lead at the half. Thompson finished with 11 points and a career-high 11 assists.
Thompson had a thunderous dunk with 3:04 left to give Rider a 93-73 lead that brought the Rider crowd to its feet. "I was going to pass it because I knew I was getting up there in assists and I wanted another assist but at the last second I took off," Thompson said.
Senior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) added 19 points and six rebounds. "We're coming together," Gadson said. A preseason First Team All-MAAC selection who has been slowed following off-season knee surgery, Gadson compiled 21 points and six rebounds in his last game, a MAAC win at Manhattan. With his 19 points tonight Gadson moved into 20th on Rider's career scoring list with 1,292.
"We still have a lot of improving to do," Gadson said. "We have to step it up another level."
Sophomore Anthony Myles (Dover, DE/Poly-Tech) added 14 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Daniel Stewart (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) added 14 points and five rebounds.
Rider jumped out to a 27-13 lead in the first 10:00, 11 points by Penn. "We came out with really good focus in the first half," Dempsey said.
Manny Thomas led Marist with 17 points, while 6-10 center Adam Kemp added 15 points and nine rebounds.
Marist is Rider's longest running conference rival. Rider and Marist were Northeast Conference rivals from 1993 to 1997. Both Rider and Marist joined the MAAC for the 1997-98 season.
Rider and Marist have now met 46 times with Rider holding a 24-22 advantage in the series that began in 1980-81. The Broncs have won nine of the last 10 meetings and 15 of the last 22 with Marist.
The Broncs travel to Jersey City Sunday afternoon for a MAAC game at Saint Peter's.
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