STONY BROOK, NY – Mervin James (St. Thomas, USVI/Pebblebrook [North Alabama]) narrowly missed a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds, but the Rider University men's basketball team's second-half comeback bid fell just short in a 55-48 loss at Stony Brook Monday night. With the loss, the Broncs fall to 1-4, while the Seawolves are now 2-3.

The Broncs jumped out to a 5-2 lead on a Tariq Ingraham (Philadelphia, PA/Bonner-Prendergast [Wake Forest]) putback slam and a James three pointer. But a 22-5 run over nearly 11 minutes would give Stony Brook the lead for the remainder of the half and the Seawolves further pushed their lead to as many as 14 points. The Broncs whittled the deficit down to eight on an Allen Powell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle College HS) drive with 1:27 left in the half and settled for a nine-point deficit at the break. James led the Broncs with seven points and five rebounds at the break, while Ingraham had four points and seven rebounds.

After the Seawolves scored the first three points of the half, Rider scored seven-straight to cut the deficit to five. All three buckets in the stretch came on fast breaks, with Corey McKeithan (Windsor, CT/Windor) twice setting up James, and scoring once himself. The last conversion was a traditional three-point play to make it a 37-32 game.

Following an 8-2 Seawolves' stretch, the Broncs went on a 13-2 run to close to within one, 47-46, with 3:56 remaining on a wild McKeithan steal and save while falling out of bounds, before hurling the ball back onto the court to find James around midcourt. James would go the rest of the way against three defenders before finishing. But Stony Brook scored the next six points to put the game out of reach.

Quotes & Notes
"We're not making shots. We're not playing good defense. We held them to 55 points, but they had some open looks. Guys I'm counting on aren't coming through for us right now."

"There's still a lot of games. I'm not down on the season. All I know is go back to work. Go back to work, figure it out, make some line-up changes and hope that some of the guys that come in and spell the guys that are struggling come in and get us going." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

- Rider and Stony Brook have met five times, most recently in November 2012, when the Seawolves took a 54-46 win in Alumni Gym. Stony Brook has won the last three in 2011-12, 2012-13 and tonight after the Broncs won the first three meetings in 1970-71, 1999-2000 and 2000-01. 
- The Broncs were playing their fourth in a six-game road trip.

Broncs by the Numbers
- A game after going for a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, James went for 19 points and nine rebounds, shooting 8-of-15 from the floor, 1-for-3 from long range and 2-for-3 from the free-throw line.
- Ingraham scored seven points and added a career-high 10 rebounds before fouling out in 19 minutes.
- Powell and JT Langston Jr. (Fort Wayne, IN/San Gabriel Academy [East Los Angeles College]) scored six points apiece.
- DJ Dudley (San Diego, CA/LA Premier Prep) grabbed a season-high seven rebounds.
- McKeithan had four points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals.
- The Seawolves outshot the Broncs, 34.0 percent (18-53) to 33.3 percent (20-60) from the floor.
- The Broncs limited the Seawolves to just 1-for-19 shooting from long range (5.3 percent), but shot just 14.3 percent (3-21) themselves.  
- Stony Brook took a 75.0 percent (18-24) to 55.6 percent (5-9) advantage from the free-throw line.  
- The Seawolves took a 42-39 edge on the glass.
- Rider took a 17-5 edge in fast-break points.  
- Stony Brook's bench outscored that of Rider, 15-9.

Up Next
The Broncs return to action Tuesday, Nov. 28, when they travel to the University of Maryland. Tip-off from XFINITY Center in College Park, MD, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on B1G+.