Men's College Basketball

Rider University 79, Iona College 75

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ— The Iona school motto, certa bonum certamen, means “fight a good fight.”  It was the Rider Broncs who fought the good fight on Sunday, coming back from a 16-point deficit.

“It was a tough fought game and we fought back,” said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett.  “We got off to a slow start but the guys stayed together. Our seniors led us today.”

Rider graduate student Teddy Okereafor (London, England/VCU) scored 23 points to lead five Rider players (four seniors) in double figures as the Broncs won a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game over first place Iona Sunday afternoon.

Rider (6-12, 2-5 MAAC) made nine of 10 foul shots in the final 2:24 to preserve the victory, five by Okereafor. Bronc freshman Kealen Ives (Providence, RI/Classical) made two free throws with 7.7 seconds left for the final score.

The last time Rider defeated Iona was here in Alumni Gym during the 2012-13 season. The Gaels had won the last six meetings with Rider.

Iona (9-8, 6-2 MAAC) out-scored Rider 9-2, eight points by MAAC Preseason Player of the Year A.J. English, to cut the Rider lead to 68-67 with 3:52 remaining, but that was as close as the Gaels could get. 

Playing in front of a handful of NBA scouts, English finished with 27 points, making 10 of 12 foul shots. “A.J. is going to get his points,” Baggett said, “but it is the other guys that you can't let have career nights. I think we made A.J. work for everything that he got tonight.”

Rider used a 16-4 run, 11 points by senior Zedric Sadler (Detroit, Mich./Cody), to take a 54-48 lead with 12:00 left to play. Sadler finished with 13 points. “We made some big baskets in that stretch,” Baggett said.

A three-point field goal by senior Shawn Valentine (Sicklerville, NJ/Phelps) in that run gave Rider its first lead of the game, 46-44 with 14:49 remaining. Valentine finished with 10 points and five rebounds off the bench, while sharing the duty of guarding English with Sadler.  “I take that as a challenge and it was fun guarding him,” said Valentine, a veteran of 113 games.

The Broncs out-scored the Gaels 8-3 to start the second half, four points by Okereafor, to cut the Iona lead to 41-38 with 17:37 left to play.

Rider went on a 10-0 run, five points by Okereafor, to cut the lead to 36-30 and Iona led 38-30 at half time. 

Okereafor has scored 61 points in his last two games, both Rider wins.

Iona jumped out to a 10-0 lead, five by English, and led 20-5 after seven minutes of play, seven points from English.

Rider junior Kahlil Thomas (Parkway, Fla./Blanche Ely) compiled 10 points and nine rebounds, one carom shy of his seventh double-double in the last eight games. Senior Khalil Alford (Raleigh, NC/Fishburne Military) added 12 points.

The Broncs made eight of 21 three-point field goals, one more than Iona did.  “Holding them to seven for 21 three-pointers was a key,” Baggett said.  “Iona can really shoot it.” The Gaels average almost 10 three-pointers made per game.

The victory was the second in a row for Rider, the second two-game winning streak of the season.  “We're trying to find our way,” Baggett said, “and get ourselves out of a hole.”

“The last two games is what we expected to look like this year,” Okereafor said.  “We've lost some close games that we did not close out. The last two games we've done that. Hopefully this will get us going.”

“We're building,” Valentine said.  “We're not giving up. We're fighting.”

Iona was playing without Jordan Washington, who was involved in an altercation after Iona's 110-102 loss to Monmouth Friday night. Washington ranks eighth in the MAAC in scoring (15.8 ppg).

Rider travels to Siena Thursday. “Siena is playing really well,” Baggett said.

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