DES MOINES, IA – Junior center Tyere Marshall (Philadelphia, PA/Martin Luther King/Putnam Science) had a season-high 21 points and eight rebounds, but the Rider University men's basketball team was defeated by Drake, 76-58, in a Las Vegas Classic contest Wednesday night at the Knapp Center. With the loss, the Broncs slip to 4-5, while the Bulldogs are now 8-2.

The Broncs came out strong in the first half, jumping out to a 13-5 lead on the strength of six points from Marshall and five more from Anthony Durham (Philadelphia, PA/Abington/Putnam Science). Rider maintained a lead for much of the first half, but Drake got a Nick Norton lay-up on its final possession of the period to take a 29-28 lead and never trailed again.

The Broncs tied the game on a Marshall jumper less than a minute into the second half, but Drake answered with a 10-0 run. Rider whittled the deficit to four on three occasions, the last with 8:48 remaining. But the Bulldogs pulled away with an 11-0 run.  

Quotes & Notes
"We had those breakdowns again defensively that we can't have. And then we went in scoring lulls again. Those back-door plays and those three's get magnified. I'm encouraged by what we tried to do today in terms of focusing and grinding it out. But in the second half, we just have to do a better job. Every game, we get in these lulls and we have a tendency to struggle and then the other team goes on their run. We just have to do a better job of focusing on that." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

- The game was the first in the all-time series between Rider and Drake.
- Tonight's game was the second in a four-game, three-city, two time zone road trip in which Rider will travel 8,731 miles in the Las Vegas Classic.
- The Broncs return to action Saturday, when they travel to Las Vegas to take on Northern Colorado at Orleans Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 (ET)/1:30 p.m. (PT).
 
Broncs by the Numbers
- Marshall did his damage on 10-of-17 shooting from the floor. The 21 points are two off of his career-high of 23, set last season at Drexel.   
- Durham also finished in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.  
- Dimencio Vaughn (New York, NY/Callaway/The Masters School) and Kimar Williams (Philadelphia, PA/Constitution [Florida International]) had a team-high three steals apiece.
- Drake outshot the Broncs, 48.2 percent (27-56) to 36.7 percent (22-60) from the floor.  
- Rider made a season-best 84.6 percent (11-13) from the free-throw line.