Box Score Men's College Basketball
Rider University 60, Manhattan College 57
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ— On Senior Night it was a junior who led the Broncs.
Junior Kahlil Thomas (Parkway, Fla./Blanche Ely) scored 19 points to lead Rider to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win over Manhattan Sunday evening.
“I'm happy for our seniors,” said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett. “Any time you can honor you seniors by going out with a win is great. Today a lot of guys stepped up and played like seniors. This was a good win for us.”
Rider graduate student Teddy Okereafor (London, England/VCU) made four of six foul shots in the final 22 seconds to preserve the victory. “It was good to see Teddy getting to the free throw line the way we know he can,” Baggett said. Okereafor finished with 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds in his final home game, making nine of 13 foul shots. “He needed to make a few more but he certainly got there enough.”
The win snapped Rider's three-game losing streak. “We had a little heart-to-heart in the locker room yesterday,” Baggett said. “The last couple of games we did not play well. We needed to rally around one another and stay together.”
“We don't quit,” Okereafor said about Rider going into the playoffs fighting. “We always stay together. As long as there is a game to play we're going to play it hard.”
Thomas, who leads the MAAC in field goal percentage, made all seven of his shots from the field Sunday. “Lilly has been doing it all year long,” Baggett said of Thomas, “so I'm happy for him as well.”
“We needed this win going into the tournament.” Thomas said.
Manhattan (12-17, 9-11 MAAC) out-scored Rider 10-0, seven points by forward Zane Waterman, who finished with 11 points, to cut the Rider lead to 49-47 with 4:11 remaining, but that was as close as the Jaspers could get. “We've been there before,” Baggett said.
The Broncs lost 65-57 at Manhattan on February 2. In that game Rider led 55-53 with 3:57 remaining. “There was no way these guys were going to let this game go down the stretch,” Baggett said.
A three-point field goal by Manhattan forward Calvin Crawford cut the lead to 59-57 with: 03 left. Crawford finished with 11 points off the bench.
Rider (12-19, 8-12 MAAC) went on a 20-9 run, 10 points by Thomas, to take a 47-34 lead with 8:36 left to play.
Rider out-scored Manhattan 11-2, six points by junior Xavier Lundy (Paulsboro, NJ/Paulsboro), to take a 25-19 lead with 1:57 left in the first half, and Rider led 27-22 at halftime.
Manhattan used an 11-2 run to take its first lead, 13-12, midway through the first half.
Rider jumped out to a 10-2 lead, six points coming from seniors.
“We did a good job not allowing Manhattan to get into their offense,” Baggett said. “We were able to set the defensive tone.”
Manhattan guard Shane Richards, who averages over 17 points per game had had 27 points his last time out, was held to just nine points Sunday. “He did not get as many looks as he normally does,” Baggett said. “We talked about being right there with him. Somebody needed to breath on him all game and we were able to do that today.”
Rider junior Jimmie Taylor (Branford, Fla./Suwannee) scored his 1,000th career point to give Rider a 45-34 lead midway through the second half. Taylor is the 35th Bronc to score 1,000 career points.
Senior Shawn Valentine (Sicklerville, NJ/Phelps), playing in his final home game, grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds along with his eight points.
Rider beat eventual MAAC Champion Manhattan twice last season, both times in overtime.
Manhattan has now lost five of its last six games and finished as the sixth seed in the MAAC.
The regular season finale was Senior Night for the Broncs, as the Rider fans said goodbye to seniors Khalil Alford, Shawn Valentine and Zedric Sadler and graduate student Teddy Okereafor.
Rider finishes in eighth place in the 11-team MAAC and plays 5pm Thursday in the first round of the Championship Tournament against the ninth seed, Quinnipiac.
“You want to be playing your best at the end of the season,” Okereafor said. “The last few games we were not but tonight we got a good win. Anything can happen in the tournament. We plan on coming out with the same effort we had tonight.”
The MAAC Championship Tournament is March 3-7 at the Times Union Center in Albany, NY. “Our guys are ready to go,” Baggett said.
-ru-
