Men's College Basketball

Iona College 77, Rider University 64

NEW ROCHELLE, NY— Iona is the name of a small island on the western coast of Scotland renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty.

There was nothing peaceful or beautiful about the basketball game played at Iona College Wednesday night.

“We did a poor job defending man-to-man tonight,” said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett.

The Rider Broncs committed a season-high 22 turnovers and missed their final six shots of the game, including thee layups, in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss at Iona.

“We didn't do a very good job taking care of the ball tonight,” Baggett said, “especially against a team like Iona. But we had some opportunities down the stretch, we just have to make lay-ups.”

Iona made five of six foul shots in the final 1:08 of play, and Rider missed its final six shots of the game.

Rider used a 7-0 run, three points by graduate student Anthony D'Orazio (Camden, NJ/Camden Catholic) to cut the lead to 65-59 with 5:09 left, but that was as close as the Broncs could get. “We made a run,” Baggett said, “and got it to six. If we make two lay-ups there we cut it to two. You have to be able to make lay-ups.” D'Orazio finished with nine points and four rebounds.

For Iona (5-3, 1-1 MAAC), junior guard A.J. English, who ranks first in the nation in scoring, averaging 26 points per game, compiled 30 points and 14 rebounds. “I give A.J. all the credit in the world, I think he is a great player,” Baggett said, “but we need to guard him better than we did tonight.”

Freshman guard Schadrac Casmir added 19 points for the Gaels. Casmir and English each made three three-pointers, as the Gaels finished with 11 from beyond the arc. “Casmir is a tough kid with a scorer's mentality,” Baggett said.

Iona entered the game averaging 86.6 points per game, sixth most in the nation, and making 12.4 three-point field goals per game, second most in Division I.

For Rider (4-6, 1-1 MAAC), sophomore Jimmie Taylor (Branford, Fla./Suwannee) compiled 16 points and six rebounds, and junior Teddy Okereafor (London, England/VCU) added 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.

“We knew what they were going to do,” Taylor said, “but we didn't do what we were supposed to do. We were not as aggressive as we needed to be, as we should have been.”

Iona made seven (of 16) three-point field goals in the first 20 minutes, three by Casmir, to take a 40-28 lead over Rider at the half. “We gave up too many threes,” Baggett said.

Rider led 11-8 before Iona scored nine straight, five by Isaiah Williams and four by English, to take a 17-11 lead with 13:13 left in the first half. Williams finished with 15 points.

Iona won the MAAC regular season title last year and is picked to win it again this year.

The last time Rider won in New Rochelle was during the 2010-11 season.

Iona defeated Rider three times last year, 80-77 at Rider, 97-81 here in New Rochelle and 94-71 in the MAAC playoffs.

“We have a long way to go to get better,” Baggett said.

Rider returns to non-conference action Saturday, traveling to Hartford for a 7pm contest. “We'll get ready to go against Hartford,” Baggett said.  

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