Men's College Basketball

Rider University 66, Niagara University 60

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY— Niagara Falls is the collective name of three different waterfalls (Horseshoe, American and Bridal Veil) that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States, specifically between Ontario and New York. The three waterfalls form the Niagara Gorge.

At Niagara University Friday night, the collective play of three Bronc forwards (Thomas, Lundy, Valentine), helped to form a conference win on the road.

Junior forward Kahlil Thomas (Parkway, Fla./Blanche Ely) and junior forward Xavier Lundy (Paulsboro, NJ/Paulsboro) each scored 20 points to lead Rider to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory at Niagara Friday evening.

“This was a 'grind it out' win,” said Rider coach Kevin Baggett. “We started off missing a lot of layups and balls going in and out. The second half we turned it up a little bit and start pressing.”

In the second half Rider scored 42 points.

Something that does not show up in the box score was the play of senior Shawn Valentine (Sicklerville, NJ/Phelps) on the defensive end. “Shawn was huge tonight,” Baggett said. “He set the tempo with the press. He's a high-energy guy and he's been awesome for us. He did a great job on the defensive end tonight.”

Trailing 51-50, Rider (10-14, 6-7 MAAC) out-scored Niagara 8-0, four points by Lundy, to take a 58-51 lead with 3:30 remaining. That was the ninth and final lead change of the game.

Lundy made three of four foul shots in the final 35 seconds to help preserve the victory. “X came in and did some good things,” Baggett said. “He hit a big three and made some big foul shots down the stretch.”

Rider out-scored Niagara 15-5, seven points by Thomas, to take a 46-45 lead with 9:30 remaining. Thomas also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. The double-double by Thomas was his ninth in the last 14 games.

In 1901 Annie Taylor was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, and 14 others have performed this stunt since then.

On Friday night, Niagara thought it had Rider over a barrel, taking a 12-point lead (32-20) in the first half.

With the score tied at 12-12, Niagara (6-18, 4-9 MAAC) out-scored Rider 12-2, five points each by Emile Blackman and Marvin Prochet, to take a 24-14 lead with 5:44 left in the first half, and Niagara led 32-24 at the half.  Blackman finished with 17 points. 

Niagara jumped out to a 10-5 lead, six points by Dominic Robb, who finished with 12 points.

Matt Scott compiled 16 points and 11 rebounds for Niagara.

Also for Rider, graduate student Teddy Okereafor (London, England/VCU) compiled 11 points, four assists and four rebounds.

Rider has now won six of the last seven trips to Niagara, with the one loss (84-82 in 2012) coming on a controversial call at the end of the game when the clock began running too soon on an inbounds play and Rider's game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer being ruled too late.

Rider has now won 11 of the last 13 meetings with Niagara and 13 of the last 17.  Since joining the MAAC, Rider is 21-16 against Niagara in regular season games. Niagara beat Rider in double overtime in the 2009 MAAC semifinals and in the 2005 MAAC Title Game.

The victory was Rider's sixth in the last eight games.

Rider will stay in Western New York and play Canisius Sunday at 3pm.  “We just have to find a way to win the next one too,” Baggett said.

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