ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Dwight Murray (Austell, GA/Pebblebrook [Incarnate Word]) scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, including the game-winner with 7.5 seconds remaining, as the ninth-seeded Rider University men's basketball team shocked top-seeded Iona, 71-70, Wednesday night in the MAAC Championship Quarterfinals. With the win, the Broncs (14-18) move on to Friday night's semifinals against the winner of Thursday night's quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Monmouth and fifth-seeded Niagara. Iona (25-7) now awaits either an at-large bid to the NCAA's or the automatic qualification for the NIT.

The early momentum swung Iona's way on an 11-0 run to put the Gaels on top, 19-11. However, the Broncs scored eight of the next 10 to pull to within two and tied the game at 26-26 and 28-28, before the Gaels scored last to take a 30-28 advantage into the break. Allen Powell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle College HS) and Dimencio Vaughn (New York, NY/Callaway/The Masters School [Ole Miss]) led the Broncs with six points apiece, while Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson (Delta State, Nigeria/Monsignor Bonner) had four points and seven assists and Murray dished out five first-half assists.

Iona maintained the lead into the second half until Murray hit a three and Mervin James (St. Thomas, USVI/Pebblebrook [North Alabama]) followed with a three-point play to give the Broncs a 41-39 advantage at the 14:07 mark. The Broncs' lead swelled to four on a fast-break bucket from Nehemiah Benson (Streetsboro, OH/Lutheran East) at the 13:14. After a back-and-forth next 10 minutes, Iona built a five-point lead, 70-65, on an Elijah Joiner three-pointer with 2:58 left. Powell stopped the bleeding with a three with 2:03 remaining and James made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:11 left to cut the deficit to one.

The Broncs got the offensive rebound on James' missed second free throw with 1:11, but turned it over on a shot clock violation. On the other end, the Broncs forced a miss, but it was the Gaels grabbing the offensive board this time. Iona's Walter Clayton, Jr., was fouled, putting him on the line, where he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Opting not to call timeout and play it out, Murray, picked up his dribble and looked to be stuck. But he pivoted toward the basket, elevated and his off-balanced one-hander splashed the net with 7.5 seconds left.

Following a timeout, Iona's Elijah Joiner got the ball across midcourt and looked for MAAC Player of the Year Tyson Jolly at the left wing. But the two weren't on the same page, with Murray blanketing Jolly defensively and Joiner's pass went out of bounds in front of the Gaels' bench with less than a second remaining. The Broncs inbounded with issue to close out the victory.

Quotes & Notes
"First of all, thank God. Because I don't have to answer not getting past the quarterfinal ever again now. Thank God."

"It wasn't always pretty. We've been in this position a lot. We've come on the losing end of it a lot this year. We keep saying and we've kept saying that we believe in this team. Again, this is why we're up here again tonight; because we've believed all year long. It's got nothing to do with me. It's got everything to do with those guys in the locker room."

"It wasn't pretty today. We had to find a way. We had to grind it. We had a couple of guys in foul trouble. Things didn't always go our way. Coach lost his head a little bit for a second, ended up regaining it. But it's all about these guys." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

"Everybody's been locked in since we got here. It just means a lot. Quarterfinals was something we wanted to do for a long time. But now we've got to finish the whole thing. We've got two more games. It's not over with. This ain't nothing now. It's a little level up." – Senior guard Dwight Murray, Jr.

- Rider is 17-23 all-time in the MAAC Tournament. This is the first time the Broncs are the No. 9 seed. The Broncs are now 6-16 in MAAC Quarterfinal games, winning their first quarterfinal game since 2011, snapping a streak of nine painful losses.
- The Gaels lead the all-time series, 45-27. The Rider win snaps an eight-game losing streak to Iona. The Broncs' last win over Iona came in a 110-101 affair Feb. 25, 2018, as Rider clinched a share of the 2018 MAAC Regular Season title and the top seed. The Broncs are now 2-4 vs. Iona in the MAAC Tournament, including an 1-3 mark in the quarterfinals. The only other win came in the 2007 First Round.
- The Broncs return to action Friday night at 6 p.m., when they face the winner of Thursday night's 9:30 p.m. quarterfinal game between fourth-seeded Monmouth and No. 5 Niagara. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNews and ESPN+.

Broncs by the Numbers
- Murray led four Broncs in double figures with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with a game-high eight assists and four rebounds. He made 2-of-3 from long range and all three of his free-throw attempts.
- James added 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-2 from long range. He also made 2-of-3 free-throw attempts. He grabbed six rebounds and added two assists.
- Ogemuno-Johnson posted his second-consecutive double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. He made 5-of-10 shots, 2-of-3 free-throw attempts, made two steals and blocked a shot. He now has four double-doubles on the year and five for his career.
- Powell also scored 11 points, hitting 3-of-7 three-point attempts. He also added three assists and a steal.  
- Vaughn scored six points, all in the first half, on 3-of-4 shooting, while being hampered with three first-half fouls. He picked up his fourth at the 16:54 mark of the second half and returned to the bench until the 9:12 mark.
- The Broncs got four points each off the bench from Benson and Sedrick Altman (Rialto, CA/Colony [Pepperdine]). Benson made 2-of-3 attempts, while Altman made a pair of first-half jumpers, his only attempts of the game.
- For the game, the Broncs outshot Iona, 50.9 percent (29-57) to 47.2 percent (25-53) from the floor, including a 46.2 percent (6-13) to 43.5 percent (10-23) advantage from long range. Rider also made 7-of-9 free-throw attempts (77.8 percent) to Iona's 66.7 percent (10-of-15).
- The Broncs are 4-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better.
- Both teams finished with 30 rebounds.  
- Rider took a 34-26 edge in points in the paint.