Men's College Basketball
Rider University 71, Canisius College 66
BUFFALO, NY- While the Rider campus was being hit by the norovirus, the Canisius College basketball team was hit by the Novar virus Thursday night.
Senior Novar Gadson (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) compiled 19 points and nine rebounds to lead Rider to a come-from-behind Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory at Canisius.
"This was a much-needed win," said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. The win was Rider's second in a row and fifth in the last six games.
Trailing 59-49, Rider (11-15, 8-6 MAAC) out-scored Canisius 17-4, six points by Gadson, to take its first lead of the game, 66-63, with 44 seconds remaining. "Novar really delivered inside for us," Dempsey said. "We kept fighting and we never lost our composure, even though it was a tough night for us."
The Broncs held Canisius without a field goal for the final 5:21 of the game. "That was the key to the comeback," Dempsey said.
"We knew if we were going to make a comeback we needed a different mindset in the second half," said Gadson, who moved up from 15th to 12th in Rider career scoring (1391) and to 10th in career rebounding (707). "We weren't as active or playing as hard as we should have in the first half."
Canisius (4-20, 1-13 MAAC) out-scored Rider 10-5 to start the second half, six points by Alshwan Hymes, to take a 44-34 lead with 15:32 left to play. Hymes finished with 10 points.
"I'm very pleased to get out of here with a win," Dempsey said. "For so much of the game it didn't look like that was going to be the end result."
Harold Washington led Canisius with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Trailing 21-12 mid-way through the first half, Rider out-scored Canisius 12-4, with five different Broncs scoring in that run, to cut the lead to 25-24, and Canisius led 34-29 at the half.
Rider senior Brandon Penn (Philadelphia, Pa./Paul Robeson) compiled 12 points and 10 rebounds, his seventh 'double-double' of the season.
Rider junior Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones) compiled 10 assists and no turnovers to go along with his eight points. Thompson is second in the MAAC in assists and in assist-turnover ratio. "Another great performance by Jon," Dempsey said.
Sophomore Anthony Myles (Dover, DE/Poly-Tech) had 12 points off the bench and senior Jeff Jones (Chester, PA/Monsignor Bonner) added 10 points.
Rider out-rebounded Canisius 45-41. "We weren't getting any early," Dempsey said. "Once we started getting desperate we began to compete harder."
Despite shooting just 35.9 percent from the field, Rider compiled 20 assists. "We were trying to have quality possessions and I think the 20 assists shows that," Dempsey said. "It is hard to get 20 assists when you shoot the way we did tonight. We moved the ball and we shared the ball. That was a real positive for our team."
The Broncs lead the MAAC in three-point field goal percentage but Rider made just seven of 29 three-point attempts Thursday night, including five of 16 in the first half. "They were giving us threes but we weren't making them," Dempsey said, "so we started going inside. Going inside to Novar was key. We weren't making shots but we hung in there."
Canisius point guard Gaby Belardo missed the game with a back injury. "Down the stretch we went to the full court press, knowing they were without their point guard, and that really helped," Dempsey said.
Rider defeated Canisius 89-65 on January 22. The Broncs won by one point (77-76) here in Buffalo last year when Gadson collected an offensive rebound and scored at the buzzer.
Rider defeated Canisius 12 straight times before losing here in Buffalo during the 2009-10 season. Since joining the MAAC Rider is 27-7 against Canisius. Since the series began in 1929-30, Rider has won 29 of the 35 meetings.
The Broncs stay in Western New York to take on Niagara again Saturday afternoon.
The norovirus hit the Rider team, as freshman Junior Fortunat (Quebec, Canada/Roman Catholic) and freshman Eddie Mitchell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle) came down with the norovirus on the bus ride to Buffalo Wednesday night and never left the hotel Thursday.
"We have those two secluded from the rest of the team," Dempsey said. "It is very contagious and my fear was that another player or two was going to come down with it."
They are doubtful for the Niagara game Saturday. Hopefully for the Broncs, the Novar virus will be just as contagious.
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