Men's College Basketball-Exhibition
Rider University 62, Kutztown University 51
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—With six new faces and a new offense, the 2014-15 Rider Broncs began the new season with an exhibition game win over Division II Kutztown Saturday afternoon. “I'm happy we won but we have a long way to go,” said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett. “It is a process.”
Sophomore Kahlil Thomas (Parkway, Fla./Blanche Ely) came in off the bench to compile a 'double-double', compiling 10 points and 12 rebounds, along with four blocked shots, two assists and a steal in 27 minutes of action.
“Kahlil has been out a lot, first with an ankle sprain then having his wisdom teeth taken out,” Baggett said, “so he hasn't been able to practice as much.”
Trailing 44-42, Rider went on a 10-3 run, five points by sophomore Jimmie Taylor (Branford, Fla./Suwannee), to take a 52-47 lead, and the Broncs never trailed again. Taylor, a Preseason Third Team All-MAAC selection this year after earning MAAC All-Rookie team honors last year, finished with eight points.
Kutztown led 37-30 before the Broncs went on an 8-0 run, four points by junior Khalil Alford (Raleigh, NC/Fishburne Military), to take their first lead of the game, 38-37 with 9:39 left to play.
Rider shot 56 percent in the second half and shot 44 percent for the game. “We are still learning this offense,” Baggett said. “There are a lot of things we saw today that are correctable.”
In his Alumni Gymnasium debut, seven foot senior Matt Lopez (Erial, NJ/Washington Twp.) compiled nine points and six rebounds. Lopez shot three for five from the field. “We need more touches for Matt,” Baggett said. “We need to play inside out.”
“It has been a long time coming,” said Lopez, who sat out last year as a transfer from Utah State after playing at La Salle. “I think we all needed to shake the cobwebs off a little bit.”
Rider out-scored Kutztown 6-2 over the final 3:01 of the first half, four points by sophomore Xavier Lundy (Paulsboro, NJ/Paulsboro), to cut the lead to 19-16 at intermission. Lundy finished with seven points and three rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
Kutztown jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 17-10 with 5:01 left in the first half. The Golden Bears were led by senior guard Tynell Fortune, who compiled 17 points, making five of seven three-pointers.
“Give Kutztown a lot of credit,” Baggett said, “they are well coached and they play well together. They move the ball and gave us some match-up problems. But that is why we play these games, to see what we need to work on.”
In his Alumni Gym debut, junior Teddy Okereafor (London, England/VCU) compiled seven points, six assists, four steals and four rebounds.
Rider was 14-17 last year and is picked to finish seventh in the 11-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this year.
Kutztown was 10-17 last year and is picked to finish fifth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East.
Rider out-rebounded Kutztown 38-29.
Rider begins the 2014-15 season at Princeton November 14 at 7pm.
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