Men's College Basketball
Broncs on ESPN3 Thursday
JERSEY CITY, NJ—For the seventh time this season, the Rider University men's basketball team will play in front of a worldwide audience, as the Broncs take on Saint Peter's Thursday on ESPN3.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and hOURglass Rivalry game begins at 8pm in Saint Peter's Yanitelli Center.
Rider (13-8, 7-3 MAAC) reaches the halfway point of conference play in mid-season form, winning 11 of its last 14 games.
Saint Peter's (10-11, 4-6 MAAC) lost four out of five games before defeating Siena 69-55 on Sunday in Albany. In that game senior guard Desi Washington scored 22 points. Washington and senior forward Marvin Dominique are combining for over 28 points and 12 rebounds per game this season.
Rider defeated Saint Peter's 68-55 on January 10 in Lawrenceville, the 15th time Rider has beaten the Peacocks in the last 19 meetings.
The Broncs are coming off of a strong defensive showing, defeating Canisius 59-46 Saturday night.
Rider has won its last two games on ESPN3, at Quinnipiac and at Fairfield.
Rider has also performed well on the road, winning its last four away games. On the season, Rider is 7-3 in away games.
The Broncs have a balanced attack, with four players averaging between 12.1 and 8.7 points per game. Senior Matt Lopez (Erial, NJ/Washington Twp.) has been leading the charge, averaging 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Lopez leads the MAAC in field goal percentage (61.3). The backcourt of junior Teddy Okereafor (London, England/VCU) and sophomore Jimmie Taylor (Branford, Fla./Suwannee) are combining for 20.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.
Saint Peter's was one of the original MAAC members (1981-82) and has won three MAAC Championships, including 2011.
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a 24/7 destination that delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com. ESPN3 can also be reached at GoBroncs.com and at MAAC.org.
Since Rider, Saint Peter's and Monmouth are all about an hour from each other the three-way rivalry between the three New Jersey MAAC teams is called the hOURglass Rivalry. The spelling is to emphasis the fact that it is OUR rivalry.
Following the Saint Peter's game Rider travels to Siena February 2.
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