LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Graduate wing Allen Betrand (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic [Towson/Rhode Island]) scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor to lead three Broncs in double figures and push the Rider University men's basketball team to a 77-71 win over Marist Thursday night at Alumni Gym. With the win, the Broncs (5-5) have won four of their last five and improve to 2-0 in league play. The Red Foxes slip to 4-7 (0-2 MAAC).

The Broncs surged ahead with three points each from Tyrel Bladen (Coatesville, PA/Coatesville) and Zahrion Blue (Princeton, NJ/Princeton [Lincoln]. Bladen converted a traditional three-point play at the 12:18 mark, before Blue made 1-of-2 free throws, rebounded his own miss on the second attempt and laid it in at the 11:39 mark. The Broncs led for the remainder of the period, pushing the lead to as many as eight on an up-and-under drive from Betrand with just over a minute remaining. The Broncs took a 42-36 lead into the break, with Betrand leading Rider with 13 points. The Broncs outshot Marist, 53.3 percent (16-30) to 39.4 percent (13-33) in the opening 20 minutes.

Rider built the lead to 10, 60-50, on an Adetokunbo Bakare (Newark, NJ/St. Benedict's [Indian Hills C.C./NJIT]) three-pointer with 11:19 remaining. But Marist clawed back with 11 of the next 12 points to pull to within one and tied the game at 66-66 on a Noah Harris three-pointer with 3:11 remaining.

But Dwight Murray, Jr. (Austell, GA/Pebblebrook [Incarnate Word]) took over, scoring the next five points to push the Broncs' lead back to five and Rider would never trail again. Marist cut the lead to three with 56 seconds remaining, but after whittling the shot clock all the way down, the Broncs got a Mervin James (St. Thomas, USVI/Pebblebrook [North Alabama]) tip-in with 23 seconds left, forced a turnover on the other end and two Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson (Delta State, Nigeria/Bonner-Prendergast) free throws with 11 seconds left made it a three-possession game to effectively end the game.   
 
Quotes & Notes
"Always good to get a league win. When we play Marist, knowing John Dunne for 17 years in this league – he knows all of our insides and outs and we know all of his insides and outs. But these two guys who are here with me now (Betrand and Blue) really set the tone for this game and gave us a lift. And we needed that. I'm finally happy that I'm sitting next to these two guys."

"John Dunne's teams are going to grind it out. I thought they did a good job. I thought our guys did a good job staying with it and executing down the stretch and coming away with the win. Give them credit. But these two guys here set the tone for the game and Betrand hit some big shots down the stretch." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

- Rider leads the all-time series with Marist, 41-26, including the last two. The series dates back just over 42 years to Dec. 20, 1980, when the Broncs won the opener in Lawrenceville.
- Baggett's teams are now 17-4 against the Red Foxes and 15-8 against John Dunne's teams, spanning six seasons at Saint Peter's (8-6) and the last five at Marist (7-2). Two of Dunne's wins came in the MAAC Tournament, with Baggett taking a 15-6 record vs. Dunne in regular-season contests.
- The Broncs moved to 3-1 at Alumni Gym this season.
- All 12 healthy Rider scholarship players played multiple minutes in the game.

Broncs by the Numbers
- Rider led for 35:50 of game time, while Marist led for just 36 seconds.
- Betrand easily eclipsed his previous season high of 11 points. He made 7-of-11 attempts from the floor, including 1-of-2 from long range, and made all four of his free-throw attempts. Betrand also had a team-high two steals.
- Murray scored 17 points – his 10^th-consecutive game with at least 17 points to begin the season. Murray has scored exactly 17 points five times in the span and between 17 and 21 in 9-of-10 games. The one outlier was a 30-point performance against Central Arkansas in the MAAC/ASUN Dublin Classic on Nov. 19.
- James added his second double-double of the season with 13 points, 11 rebounds and a team-high three assists. He made 6-of-7 field-goal attempts, including his only three-point attempt, and also blocked a shot.
- Blue matched his season high with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting, while also grabbing four rebounds and collecting a steal.
- Ogemuno-Johnson contributed four points and seven rebounds.
- Tariq Ingraham (Philadelphia, PA/Bonner-Prendergast [Wake Forest]) and Bakare added five points apiece as Rider's bench outscored that of Marist, 22-16.
- The Broncs took a 32-22 edge in points in the paint.
- Rider also took an 11-4 advantage in fast-break points.
- Marist outrebounded the Broncs, 36-32, with the difference coming on a 13-9 discrepancy on the offensive glass. However, both teams scored 10 second-chance points.
- Rider outshot Marist, 49.2 percent (29-59) to 41.9 percent (26-62) from the floor, including a 42.9 percent (6-14) to 38.7 percent (12-31) edge from long range.
- Rider also outshot the Red Foxes, 76.5 percent (13-17) to 58.3 percent (7-12) from the free-throw line.

Up Next
The Broncs play one last non-conference contest Wednesday, Dec. 28, when they travel to the University of Georgia. Opening tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Stegeman Coliseum on SEC Network+ and ESPN+.