LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Jay Alvarez (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro Area [Houston Christian]) scored a team-high 19 points and the Rider University men's basketball team made 16 steals in forcing 25 Mount St. Mary's turnovers as the Broncs defeated the Mountaineers, 66-60, Thursday night at Alumni Gym. With the win, the Broncs' second straight, Rider improves to 6-11 (2-4 MAAC), while handing the Mountaineers (11-6, 4-2 MAAC) their second league setback of the year.

A back-and-forth opening 11 minutes flipped on an 11-0 Rider run to put the Broncs on top, 21-14, by the six-minute mark. Five different Broncs scored in the run, which was capped by a T.J. Weeks Jr. (Warwick, RI/Bishop Hendricken Catholic [UMass]) three. The Mountaineers answered with five straight to close to within two, before Rider rebuilt a nine-point cushion with seven-straight. The Broncs settled for a 29-23 lead at the break, with Alvarez leading the way with eight points.

The Broncs continued to keep the Mountaineers at arm's length for the remainder of the second half. Mount St. Mary's cut the Rider lead to three on two occasions, but it was a two-possession Broncs' lead for the final 13 minutes.  

Quotes & Notes
"Good to win at home finally. I thought our guys battled, did some good things. Down the stretch, it got a little dicey, but even when we made a couple of turnovers in the end, I thought our guys came down and got a stop, got a big rebound and it's good to see another win."

(On Ruben Rodriguez) "Ruben's coming, man. It kind of reminds me last year of Corey McKeithan. In the beginning, it was a new role for him, so he had to grow into it a little bit. Ruben is growing into that role and understanding that it starts and ends with him. We trust him. I told him on the way here, he's got to keep taking those shots. Those are shots that he makes. Those are shots that he works on. And he's got to continue to keep the ball and run our offense. Ruben's a winner, man. That's what he's always been. He makes winning plays. We knew eventually he was going to grow into this role and become more comfortable with the role."

"All the credit goes to the guys. They've rallied around since that loss that we had at Canisius. All the credit goes to them. They're all working hard. You can hear the energy on the bench. When guys come into the game, they bring the same energy. That's what you're going to need to do if we're going to climb back up in this league." – Rider Men's Basketball Head Coach Kevin Baggett

"If we just keep that same intensity, honestly the sky's the limit for our team. The coaches have been saying it and we've been saying it to each other, we've just got to be about it and just bring that energy everyday in practice, film, the games… everywhere. We've just got to be consistent." – Rider sophomore guard Ruben Rodriguez

- Rider is 5-0 this season when holding the opposition to fewer than 72 points.
- Rider leads the all-time series with Mount St. Mary's, 17-13, including wins in each of the last three. The Broncs swept the 2023-24 series with two four-point victories.
- Kevin Baggett's teams are 4-1 against Mountaineers since they joined the MAAC prior to the 2022-23 season.
- The win was Rider's first in five tries at home this season.
 
Broncs by the Numbers
- Rider forced 25 Mount St. Mary's turnovers and made 16 steals. The last time the Broncs had 16 steals in a single game came three times in 2018-19 against Robert Morris (Dec. 15, 2018), vs. Northern Colorado (Dec. 22, 2018) and against Niagara (Feb. 22, 2019).
- Alvarez led the Broncs with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor, including 1-of-5 from long range, and 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. He added four rebounds and three steals.
- Burton added 14 points off the bench, with 11 coming in the second half. He made 4-of-8 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from long range, and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. He added a team-high five assists and four steals.
- Weeks Jr. scored 12 points on 4-of-13 from the floor, including 2-of-8 from beyond the arc. He also made both of his free-throw attempts. He added six rebounds, two steals, two blocked shots and two assists.
- Tariq Ingraham (Philadelphia, PA/Bonner-Prendergast [Wake Forest]) chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and three assists.
- Ruben Rodriguez (Reading, PA/Reading) had four points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
- The Mountaineers took a 39.3 percent (22-56) to 34.9 percent (22-63) edge from the floor.
- Rider outshot the Mount from beyond the three-point arc, 33.3 percent (8-24) to 30.4 percent (7-23).
- The Mountaineers enjoyed a 69.2 percent (9-13) to 58.3 percent (14-24) advantage from the free-throw line.
- Mount St. Mary's outrebounded the Broncs, 50-29. However, the Mountaineers' advantages in points in the paint and second-chance points were only 28-24 and 13-7, respectively.
- Rider outscored the Mountaineers, 20-7, off turnovers and 11-3 on fast breaks.
- Rider's bench outscored that of Mount St. Mary's, 16-14.
- The Broncs led for 29:52 of game time to the Mount's 3:35 with a lead.

Up Next
The Broncs return to action Saturday, when they travel to league-leading Marist (6-0 in MAAC play). Opening tip from Poughkeepsie, NY, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.