LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Six Broncs scored in double figures for the third time in less than a calendar year as the Rider University men's basketball team surged past Bucknell, 89-69, in its home opener Tuesday night at Alumni Gymnasium. With the win, the Broncs' third-straight, Rider improves to 5-2, while the Bison are now 3-7.

Trailing by as many as six in the first half, the Broncs used consecutive Willy Nuñez, Jr. (Orlando, FL/Oak Ridge [Florida International]) three-pointers to spark a 12-2 run and pull ahead by five. After Bucknell countered with a pair of three-pointers to retake the lead, Christian Ings (Philadelphia, PA/Neumann-Goretti) converted a conventional three-point play to give Rider a 37-35 lead at the break.

The Broncs would not trail again. RU scored the first six points of the second half to establish an eight-point cushion and a 15-1 run completed by the 9:25 mark of the period pushed the Rider lead to 21. Bucknell responded with a 10-0 run to cut its deficit to 11, but could draw no closer as the Broncs scored the next 10 points following a Rider timeout to reestablish the 21-point lead. A Frederick Scott (Munster, IN/Simeon [DePaul]) fast-break dunk made it a 23-point lead and the Broncs closed out the Bison, 89-69.

Quotes & Notes
"Happy to be home. Our first home game of the year. Let's give Bucknell some credit. Those guys came back in the game and gave us a little scare down the stretch. But, for the most part, I thought our guys did what we needed to do in order for us to win tonight."

(On Willy Nuñez, Jr.) "Willy's experienced. Willy brings that value to us, on and off the court. Willy's capable of making shots and understanding what's going on out there, understanding what we're trying to get done. Just another really good piece. Obviously, we lost Jordan Allen, a really good shooter. Tyrei Randall has not played for us at this point. So, we certainly need Willy's three-point shooting. And it was huge tonight. And just his leadership and experience is huge for us, being a fifth-year player."

"I've thought we've done a really good job this year of sharing the ball. Even some of the shots that we missed, we did a good job moving the ball around, great passes, finding the right guy, making those guys have to scramble. We didn't do enough of that last year and I think these guys have embraced that this year, understanding there's several guys who can score. But really our focus is on the defensive end. We keep talking about focusing on getting stops and the scoring will take care of itself. We've struggled to score the ball all year long. We've not struggled to score the ball the last couple of years. But there's times that we've struggled defensively, which we still have to get better at." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

(On joining the team as a fifth-year senior) "I've felt pretty good. It's really family oriented. As soon as I came in, they took me in as we were all brothers. And that's was probably the best part about it." – Rider Graduate Student Willy Nuñez, Jr.

- Longtime Middle Atlantic Conference and East Coast Conference foes, Rider and Bucknell were playing for the first time since November 2005. The win snapped a two-game Bucknell winning streak and cut the Bison's lead in the all-time series to 30-25.
- Rider was playing its home opener at the latest time on the calendar since the 1992-93 season (Jan. 2, 1993) and the latest in terms of number of games since the 1988-89 team also played its home opener in its seventh game.
- Rider also had six in double figures on Jan. 13, 2019, at Niagara and Jan. 27, 2019, against Marist. Tyere Marshall (Philadelphia, PA/Martin Luther King/Putnam Science), Stevie Jordan (Bensalem, PA/Conwell-Egan/API) and Scott have each reached double figures in all three instances.
- Despite being three games over .500, the Broncs led at the half for just the second time this season and the first time since Nov. 8 at Delaware State.
- Rider is in the midst of a three-game homestand. Up next is a Saturday, Dec. 14 tilt with LIU at 2 p.m. The Broncs then open league play with a Monday, Dec. 16, match-up with Marist at 7 p.m.   

Broncs by the Numbers
- Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett earned his 128^th victory in his time in Lawrenceville, passing his current boss, Rider Athletic Director Don Harnum for fourth on the all-time list. Up next is Kevin Bannon (131), while Thomas Leyden (187) and John Carpenter (292) top the Rider Head Coaching Wins List.
- Dimencio Vaughn (New York, NY/Callaway/The Masters School) scored a team-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He also had a pair of blocked shots.
- Tyere Marshall (Philadelphia, PA/Martin Luther King/Putnam Science) added his team-leading third double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
- Scott, Stevie Jordan (Bensalem, PA/Conwell-Egan/API) and Nuñez also added 14 points apiece. Scott added seven rebounds and two steals, Jordan had a team-high five assists and Nuñez scored his season high on the strength of 4-of-6 from long range.
- Ings rounded out the double-figures scorers with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
- Rider shot over 50.0 percent for the third time this season at 52.5 percent (31-59).
- The Broncs shot over 50.0 percent in the second half for the third-straight game (58.1 percent, 18-31) and the fourth time this season.
- In the three-game stretch of hot-shooting second halves, Bucknell managed the top performance of the group (Columbia, Vermont), shooting 36.0 percent (9-25) in the final 20 minutes.
- Rider matched its season high with 18 assists (Nov. 20 at UMass).
- The Broncs outrebounded their seventh-straight opponent to begin the season, taking a 34-30 edge.
- Rider outscored Bucknell, 42-28, in the paint.