LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Allen Powell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle College H.S.) made five of his six three-pointers after halftime as the Rider University men's basketball erased a 16-point deficit to force overtime, but fell to Penn, 77-73, in the extra session Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym. With the loss, the Broncs fall to 3-9, while the Quakers improved to 8-5.

Rider took early leads of 2-0, 6-4 and 8-7, before the Quakers reeled off 11-straight to take the lead for good. The advantage swelled to as many as 16 in the first half, 39-23, on a Clark Slajchert three-pointer at the 3:01 mark, before the Broncs cut it to 10 on consecutive Mervin James (St. Thomas, USVI/Pebblebrook [North Alabama]) buckets. Penn took a 13-point advantage, 41-28, into the halftime break. James led the Broncs with 10 points and five rebounds after 20 minutes. Penn did much of its damage on 9-of-19 shooting beyond the arc.

The Rider defense did not allow a second-half three-pointer to the Quakers as the Broncs began to chip away, scoring the first six points of the second half, including four from T.J. Weeks Jr. (Warwick, RI/Bishop Hendricken Catholic [UMass]). After Penn rebuilt its lead to 13 on several occasions, the Broncs went on a 9-0 run to pull to within four, 55-51, on a pair of DJ Dudley (San Diego, CA/LA Premier Prep) free throws at the 5:49 mark. After the Quakers again rebuilt a seven-point lead on a Clark Slajchert bucket with 1:42 remaining and advantage remained six with less than a minute remaining, Powell hit a three with 50 seconds left, made a steal seconds later and knocked down another triple to tie the game at 67-67 with 25 seconds remaining. Slajchert misfired on his attempt at a game winner in the lane at the regulation buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

In the extra session, Nick Spinoso opened the scoring with a putback in the opening minute for Penn, before the Quakers extended to a five-point lead on an excuse-me, banked-in three-pointer from Tyler Perkins at the 1:29 mark. Powell hit his sixth three of the game on the Broncs' next possession to cut the deficit to two, but Rider misfired on its final two field-goal attempts, including a would-be go-ahead Powell three-pointer with less than four seconds left as Penn held on for the 77-73 victory.
 
Quotes & Notes
"Tough game. We certainly had a chance to win. The big difference was as many three's as we gave up in the first half and the Hail Mary three they made. That was the difference in the game. If we would've defended like that in the first half, then we wouldn't be sitting here down on ourselves. But I'm not down. Our guys battled and I like where we're headed." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

- Rider and Penn renewed a local rivalry that has just six installments, all since its inception in January 2004. Four of the six meetings have gone to overtime. The first three meetings were all decided in overtime, with the Broncs coming away victorious in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. The Quakers took their only win of the series in November 2011, a 78-72 overtime victory. The Broncs had won the last two – an 89-88 victory in 2013-14 and a 73-57 victory in 2014-15 and now lead the series, 4-2.
- Rider's last two games have gone to overtime – an 88-85 win at Delaware and today's decision. The Broncs have now split their last four overtime games over the last two seasons after having lost five-straight in an extra session from February 2019 to February 2022.
- The Broncs have not won a game they've trailed at the half this season (0-9).

Broncs by the Numbers
- Powell scored 21 points and made two steals in 43 minutes played. He made 6-of-13 attempts from long range and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.
- Powell made as many as six three-pointers for the third time as a Bronc and the first since a 6-of-10 effort on Dec. 20, 2021, against Gwynedd-Mercy. His career-best of 7-for-8 game Feb. 21, 2021, at Saint Peter's.
- James posted his third double-double of the year, the 17^th of his career, with 20 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. He made 8-of-16 attempts from the floor and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. He grabbed four offensive rebounds, dished out a team-high four assists, made two steals and blocked shots.  
- James' two blocks give him 11 rejections in his last four games. He now has 51 blocks as a Bronc, moving past former teammate Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson (50) and into a tie for for 23^rd with Brandon Penn among Rider's all-time blocks leaders.
- Powell (21) and James (20) gave Rider two players with 20 or more points in the same game for the first time since Dec. 7, 2022, at Stonehill (James – 23, Dwight Murray Jr. – 20).
- Anthony McCall (Philadelphia, PA/Academy of the New Church) scored a season-high seven points and grabbed five rebounds in a season-high 15 minutes. He made 2-of-4 from the floor and 3-of-5 from the free-throw line.
- Tariq Ingraham (Philadelphia, PA/Bonner-Prendergast [Wake Forest]) chipped in with six points and seven rebounds, while Corey McKeithan (Windsor, CT/Windsor) had six points, six rebounds and two assists.
- Penn took a 38.6 percent (27-70) to 37.7 percent (26-69) edge from the floor and a 38.5 percent (10-26) to 38.1 percent (8-21) advantage from long range.
- The Quakers also edged the Broncs from the free-throw line, 76.5 percent (13-17) to 68.4 percent (13-19).
- Penn outrebounded the Broncs, 46-43.
- Rider took a 12-4 edge on points off turnovers. Rider forced 12 Penn turnovers, while committing just nine of their own.
- Penn led for 39:09 of game time to the Broncs' 1:43 with a lead.  

Up Next
The Broncs return to action Friday, Dec. 29, when they travel to Penn State. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. on BTN+.