LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Mervin James (St. Thomas, USVI/Pebblebrook [North Alabama]) scored a game-high 16 points and both Tariq Ingraham (Philadelphia, PA/Bonner-Prendergast [Wake Forest]) and DJ Dudley (San Diego, CA/LA Premier Prep) scored all of their 12 and 10 points, respectively, in the second half as the Rider University men's basketball team erased a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat Mount St. Mary's, 61-57, Friday night at Alumni Gym. With the win, the Broncs (9-16, 6-8 MAAC) sweep the regular-season series with the Mountaineers (11-14, 7-7 MAAC).

Rider took a pair of early three-point leads, 3-0, and 13-10, before Mount St. Mary's used a 16-3 run to take a 26-16 advantage. De'Shayne Montgomery sparked and capped the run with a pair of buckets, the second at the 2:42 mark. Rider countered with six straight on a James three-pointer, a Ruben Rodriguez (Reading, PA/Reading) free throw and an Ife West-Ingram (Philadelphia, PA/Abington Friends) lay-up before settling for a 27-22 deficit at the half.

Mount St. Mary's scored 12 of the first 16 points to start the second half, growing its lead to 13, 39-26, by the 15:40 mark on a Joshua Reaves three-pointer. But Rider answered with a 7-0 run to cut to within six on a Dudley drive at the 13:53 mark. The Mount answered with a Montgomery three and a Jedy Cordilia bucket in the paint to push back to an 11-point cushion, but again, the Broncs answered with a 6-0 run to pull to within five on a James transition lay-up at the 9:20 mark.

After the teams twice traded buckets in the next minute, the Broncs went on a 12-0 run to take the lead. Four-straight free-throws, two each from Ingraham and Dudley got the spurt started, before James scored on a drive to pull to within one. At the 5:34 mark, Rodriguez buried a pull-up baseline jumper to give the Broncs their first lead since the 8:25 mark of the first half. The run continued with a pair of finishes inside from Ingraham to push the lead to five. Still a five-point Rider lead with less than two and a half minutes to go, Mount St. Mary's scored seven-straight points to retake the lead, 57-55, on a Dallas Hobbs three-pointer off a Broncs turnover in the backcourt with 52 seconds remaining.

Allen Powell (Philadelphia, PA/La Salle College H.S.) was fouled as the Broncs went the other way and knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game at 57-57 with 47 seconds left. On the other end, Dola Adebayo lost the ball on a drive through the lane, Rodriguez picked it up and Adebayo's momentum undercut Rodriguez's legs for a foul. The Broncs freshman made 1-of-2 from the line to give Rider a 58-57 lead with 23 seconds remaining. Cordilia misfired on a drive with 17 seconds remaining and Ingraham was fouled. He'd made 1-of-2 free throws to make it a 59-57 lead, before Rider opted to immediately foul Cordilia in a 1-and-1 situation with 12 seconds left.

Cordilia misfired on the front end and James was fouled, making both of his attempts to make it a two-possession game. Mount St. Mary's misfired on a pair of attempts on the other end as time expired.

Quotes & Notes
"It wasn't always pretty. I'm not going to complain a win. There's no such thing as a pretty loss. I'm certainly happy we got the win. We made some mistakes, but I'm proud of these two guys (Dudley and Rodriguez). They're growing up, man. They're growing up. I couldn't be more happy for the two of these guys."

(On the contributions of Dudley and Rodriguez) "They've been around enough. They've heard my voice enough. They've played in enough games. To see what these guys did tonight, I'm proud of them." – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

- Rider leads the all-time series with Mount St. Mary's, 16-13, including a regular-season sweep this season. Rider also took a 66-62 win on Jan. 27 in Emmitsburg, MD.  
- Rider won for the first time this season when trailing at the half, moving to 1-12 when facing a deficit after 20 minutes.  
- Rider moved to 6-4 at home this season.  

Broncs by the Numbers
- James scored a team-high 16 points on 6-of-14 from the floor, including 2-of-4 from long range, and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. He also added five rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.
- Ingraham added 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks. He also added two steals. He made 3-of-8 attempts from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
- Dudley added 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed five rebounds.
- Powell also reached double-digits with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-7 from long range, and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. He also dished out four assists and made three steals.
- Rodriguez scored four points and made a team-high four steals in 22 minutes.
- The Broncs outshot Mount St. Mary's, 37.5 percent (21-56) to 37.1 percent (23-62) from the floor, including a 33.3 percent (5-15) to 28.6 percent (4-14) edge from beyond the arc.
- Both teams shot 77.8 percent from the free-throw line, with Rider making 14-of-18 attempts and The Mount connecting on 7-of-9.
- The Mountaineers took a 44-34 edge on the glass, including a 13-7 advantage in offensive rebounds.
- Rider won while being outrebounded for just the second time this year, with tonight's 10-rebound discrepancy easily eclipsing the 44-42 disparity in a win at Saint Peters on Jan. 25.
- Rider took a 13-2 advantage in fast-break points.
- Mount St. Mary's led for 28:25 of game time to the Broncs' 8:19 with a lead.

Up Next
The Broncs return to action Sunday, when they travel to Manhattan. Tip-off from Draddy Gym is scheduled for 2 p.m. on ESPN+.