Men's College Basketball

Rider University 73, University of Pennsylvania 57

PHILADELPHIA, PA— The Palestra is often called the Cathedral of College Basketball. 

On Tuesday night, Rider basketball fans' prayers were answered.

“This was much needed after a tough loss to start the season,” said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett.

Rider junior Zedric Sadler (Detroit, Mich/Cody) scored a career-high 23 points to lead Rider (1-1) to victory over Penn (0-2) Tuesday evening.

Sadler missed the season opener last year with a knee injury, an injury that hindered his play the entire season.  “The game is a lot more fun when I can move, when I am agile, like I am now,” said Sadler, who shot seven of nine from the  field, including making all four of his three point field goals and five of six foul shots.

“Zed's healthy and our trainer Jacquie Henry did a great job working with him all summer,” Baggett said.

Also for the Broncs, sophomore Jimmie Taylor (Branford, Fla./Suwannee) added 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. “Jimmie and Zed really stepped up tonight after a good week of practice,” Baggett said.

Rider shot 52 percent from the field, 55 percent from three-point range, and made 10 three-point field goals.

The Broncs shot 60 percent in the first half, making seven of 10 three-pointers, to build a 40-26 lead at intermission. “We want to hang our hats on playing defense,” Baggett said, “but anytime you can shoot the way we shot in the first half it sure makes life easier.”

Rider led 21-20 when junior Khalil Alford (Raleigh, NC/Fishburne Military) came in and scored eight straight points, knocking down a pair of threes, to begin a 19-3 Rider run, giving the Broncs a 40-23 lead with 1:27 left in the first half. Alford finished with 10 points in just 13 minutes of action off the bench.

“We always knew Khalil could score,” Baggett said.  “Last game I got on him a little bit, thinking his defensive energy was not what it should have been. I was very happy with the way he responded tonight, both defensively and offensively.”

Penn used a 12-2 run, five points by Tony Hicks, to take an 18-16 lead mid-way through the first half. Sadler responded with back-to-back baskets to give Rider a 21-18 lead with 8:03 left in the first half.

Hicks finished with just 11 points, being guarded by Sadler, after scoring 31 points in the season opener. Sadler was asked what he was more proud of, his scoring tonight or his defense. “Both,” Sadler said.

“First of all I have to acknowledge Zed's defensive effort tonight,” Baggett said.  “Zed always guards the other team's best player and Hicks can really score.”

Also for Penn, 6-11 Darien Nelson-Henry scored Penn's first six points of the game but finished with just eight points in 15 minutes due to foul trouble.  “He's a big guy who can do a lot of things so we wanted to attack him and it worked out well,” Baggett said.

Rider jumped out to a 9-4 lead, seven points by Taylor, and led 14-6 after seven minutes of play.

Ten different Broncs played 10 or more minutes at the Palestra Tuesday.  “Going into the season I felt our depth was one of our positives,” Baggett said.

Rider and Penn have now met five times since the series began in 2003-04, with Rider winning four. The previous four games were decided by one point or in overtime.

Rider plays the home opener Friday, hosting Lehigh at 7pm. “Lehigh shot the ball very well when we played at their place last year,” Baggett said, “and they recently played very well against Villanova. We didn't play as well at home as we felt we should have last year so this is a big game for us coming up.”

“We planned on going 3-0 before we go to Kansas and then to Orlando to play Michigan State,” Sadler said, “so when we lost at Princeton we knew we had to win this one.”

Sadler's prayers were answered, in the Cathedral of College Basketball.

-ru-