ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – T.J. Weeks Jr. (Warwick, RI/Bishop Hendricken Catholic [UMass]) matched his season high with 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but the eighth-seeded Rider University men's basketball team fell to top-seeded Quinnipiac, 78-64, in the MAAC Championship Quarterfinals Wednesday night at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. With the loss, the Broncs end their season at 14-19, while the Bobcats (20-12) advance to Friday's semifinals.

After the Broncs took a pair of two-point leads in the early going, the Bobcats surged ahead, scoring six-straight from Savion Lewis to take a 15-8 advantage less than nine minutes in. Consecutive Tariq Ingraham (Philadelphia, PA/Bonner-Prendergast [Wake Forest]) buckets inside, including a thunderous dunk at 9:31 to cut the deficit to two. But Quinnipiac methodically built its lead to double digits and extended to a 16-points lead with a 14-3 spurt to end the period. Ingraham led Rider with 12 points and five rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

The Bobcats scored the first four points of the second half to build their lead to 20 and the advantage grew to as many as 21. The closest the Broncs could draw was the final 14-point margin, 78-64, on Cole McCabe's fast-break finish with 37 seconds remaining.

Quotes & Notes
"Tough one today. I thought that we weren't physical enough. I thought they did a good job guarding us. We just needed some of our better guys to show up that struggled to show up today."

"I thought they had a better game plan. I thought they played better. Monroe is as advertised. That's the reason why he's the Player of the Year. Savion's really good. We recruited him out of high school. Physically, he's been beat up a little bit. But the two of those guys together play well. They shared the ball. They made some tough shots. They weren't easy shots. We didn't share the ball. We were taking too quick of shots. We didn't find the open guys enough and we didn't move enough."

(On T.J. Weeks' Rider career) "Awesome. First and foremost, just a great young man. He represented us well. Showed up every day to practice, tried to be a leader. He's just a great, consummate teammate. We knew what we were getting from UMass. He wanted an opportunity to come here and do the things that he thought he was capable of doing. He's just an extension of me and a great leader and a great teammate. Our guys love him. And they all fought for him. That's why they were so happy for him yesterday. Today, that's the game of basketball. They're disappointed. They feel like they let him down. But we all let one other down today."  – Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett

- The Broncs are 18-27 all-time in the MAAC Championships. Rider has now been the No. 8 seed three times and fell to the top seed each time in the Quarterfinals. As the No. 9 seed, Rider scored an upset of top-seeded Iona in 2022.  
- Quinnipiac took all three meetings this season to even the all-time series with the Broncs at 14-14. Rider and Quinnipiac are also now tied in MAAC Championship meetings, with the Broncs taking an opening round game in 2015-16.

Broncs by the Numbers
- Weeks Jr. scored 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including 3-of-8 from long range, and made both of his free-throw attempts. He also grabbed nine rebounds, made two steals and added a steal and a block.  
- Ingraham scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. He made 8-of-9 attempts from the floor and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line.
- Flash Burton (Philadelphia, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) also scored in double figures with 10 points to go along with three assists, three rebounds, a block and a steal.
- Ruben Rodriguez (Reading, PA/Reading) dished out a career-high seven assists.
- Cole McCabe (Miami Beach, FL/Miami Country Day/IMG Academy) added seven points on 3-of-3 shooting in eight minutes off the bench.
- The Broncs and Bobcats both shot 27-of-59 from the floor for 45.8 percent. Quinnipiac made 5-of-21 (.238) from long range to the Broncs' 23.1 percent (3-of-13).
- Quinnipiac outshot the Broncs, 76.0 percent (19-25) to 63.6 percent (7-11) from the free-throw line.
- The Bobcats took a 39-32 edge on the glass, including a 17-13 edge in offensive rebounds.
- Quinnipiac led for 35:55 of game time to the Broncs' 1:59 with the lead.