LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University men's basketball team shot a season-high 61.4 percent (43-70) and scored a season-high 110 points to defeat Iona, 110-101, clinch a share of the MAAC Regular Season Championship and the top seed in the MAAC Tournament Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gym. The Broncs close out the regular season at 22-8 (15-3 MAAC), while the Gaels are now 17-13 (11-7 MAAC).
 
Dimencio Vaughn (New York, NY/Calloway) scored a team-high 26 points and added six rebounds, while Tyere Marshall (Philadelphia, PA/Martin Luther King/Putnam Science) posted his team-leading seventh double-double with 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Anthony Durham (Philadelphia, PA/Abington/Putnam Science) posted a new career-high with 17 points, while Kealen Washington-Ives (Providence, RI/Classical) and Frederick Scott (Munster, IN/Simeon [DePaul]) also had 15 points apiece.

The Broncs used an early 10-0 run to create early separation and Washington-Ives scored Rider's final 10 points in the period to push the advantage to 17 at the halftime break. The lead would gradually swell to as many as 26 with 8:50 remaining in regulation. The Gaels methodically whittled the Broncs' lead down to single digits with 22 seconds remaining, but it was too little, too late as the Broncs closed out the victory.  

Quotes & Notes
"I'm just so proud of our guys. I'm proud of the fact that these guys have worked so hard all year long and they were rewarded today by winning the conference. I couldn't be more proud."

"I could tell yesterday that everybody was locked in when we met. We did a couple of practices, a couple of walk through's. It's been (Dimencio Vaughn and Kealen Washington-Ives) all year long that's been stepping up and actually saying, 'Coach, we've got you,' and, as a coach, you can appreciate that because I trust these guys. All year long they've put us in position to be successful. And they've allowed me to grow and trust in a team like I've never trusted in before."

"Finishing on top means we finally got the one seed. I've been the two seed twice in my six years. It gives us a chance to guarantee us postseason [automatic berth in NIT], which is not where we want to go, but it certainly takes some pressure off you. The last time we went to the NIT was 1998, so we at least have that in our pocket. But our biggest goal is to go up to Albany and cut those nets down this next week coming up. But this was one box we wanted to check off. We won the Vegas tournament – that was one we wanted to win. We've had goals all year long and these guys have been able to check those boxes and achieve the things we've talked about." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

"This team is tough. We don't give in to nobody. That's just not us. Moments like this for teams like us – we take advantage of it. We don't just take it and just celebrate and be happy with it. No, we want more. We're hungry. We're trying to prove something." – Rider redshirt freshman Dimencio Vaughn

"I would say that was my best stretch here at Rider in the first half. It was better for me because it was for my team and being able to help my team win. In the meeting with the whole team, I said, 'whether you get two minutes, one minute or 30 seconds, just go out there and play as hard as you can. Give us something – whether it's a charge, a blocked shot, a shot made, whatever it is - just give everything you've got to the team.' That's what I wanted to establish when I got on the court today and I feel like it paid off."

"It's everything, but it's also just a start of what we can do. It's rewarding to get that after we worked so hard this season and everything we've been through – ups, downs, good times, bad times. Just to win that for the school and all of our fans and the Rider community, that's really big for us." – Rider junior guard Kealen Washington-Ives

- Rider cut Iona's lead in the all-time series to 37-26.
- Rider shares the MAAC Regular Season Championship with Canisius (15-3). It is the Broncs' fourth MAAC Regular Season Championship in 21 years in the league (2001-02, 2004-05, 2007-08) and just the second time Rider has taken the No. 1 seed in the MAAC Tournament (2001-02).
- Rider reached 15 league wins for just the second time in 21 years in the MAAC and the first time in an 18-game league schedule (15-5 in 2014-15).
- Along with the top seed in the MAAC Tournament, Rider clinched an automatic berth in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), should it fall in the MAAC Tournament and not claim an NCAA Tournament bid.
- Rider entered the game at No. 65 in the RPI.
- Rider finished the league slate undefeated (9-0) at home.
- Rider will face the winner of Thursday's MAAC Championship First Round match-up (5 p.m.) between eighth-seeded Monmouth and ninth-seeded Saint Peter's. The quarterfinal game will be played Friday at 7 p.m. at the Times Union Center in Albany, NY.   

Broncs by the Numbers
- The 61.4 percent shooting performance bested the Broncs' prior season-high of 57.4 percent against Siena on Feb. 15.
- Vaughn made 11-of-17 attempts, including 2-of-4 from long range.
- Marshall hit 8-of-12 shots and grabbed five of his 16 rebounds on the offensive glass.  
- Stevie Jordan (Bensalem, PA/Conwell-Egan/API) moved into the top 10 in program history in assists and now stands at 334.  
- Scott made 6-of-7 field-goal attempts, while Washington-Ives made 6-of-8, including 3-of-4 from long range.
- Both teams shot the ball well, with Iona hitting at 53.4 percent (31-58). It marked the second time this year that Rider defeated an opponent when it hit 50 percent of its shots or better (at Saint Peter's, Jan. 18 – 52.5 percent).