November 12, 2005 - Rider 96 Albright 72 (Exhibition)
November 12, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Basketball (exhibition)
Rider University 96, Albright College 72
LAWRENCEVILLE— Senior Edwin Muniz (Passaic) scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds, and sophomore Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) added 17 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots to lead Rider to an exhibition victory over Division III Albright College Saturday. But it was the freshmen guards who stole the show. “Jason and Ed were solid, they led us in a positive direction,” said Interim Head Coach Tommy Dempsey, “and the freshmen guards (Rodney Pierce and Lamar Johnson) played well. For their first game they looked like they belonged out there.”
Rider out-scored Albright 22-6 over the first seven minutes of the second half, nine of those 22 coming from freshman Lamar Johnson (Scranton, PA), to take a 71-40 lead. Lamar Johnson finished with 12 points and five assists. Freshman Rodney Pierce (Buffalo, NY/Hutchinson Tech) added 12 points and seven assists.
“Lamar played with a lot of confidence for a freshman,” Dempsey said. “He made a couple big shots, he got open, and he was ready to shoot it. It looked like he felt like he belonged. He looked like he was ready to step up.”
Trailing 79-47, Albright went on a 19-6 run, seven points by Trevor Deeter (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy), to cut the lead to 85-66 with 4:00 left to play. Deeter finished with 13 points and six rebounds. “It got a little sloppy at one point but that can happen when you get a big lead,” Dempsey said.
“I think things went well today,” said Muniz. “It’s always good when you win.” Rider jumped out to a 23-10 lead, eight points by Muniz, and led 49-34 at the half. Albright never led in the contest. “It was important to get off to a good start. We didn’t want to take them lightly. Illinois was in a tight game with a Division III team the other night, so you can’t take anyone for granted.”
Rider made 13 three-point field goals, four by sophomore guard Kam Warner (Pleasantville), who added 16 points off the bench. “We have so many good guards, the first half of the season we have to figure out who needs to play,” said Dempsey. “All of them are very capable, but you can’t play everyone. I tell these guys that every day is a new opportunity.”
Senior Paul Johnson (Virginia Beach, VA/Salem) added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Broncs.
“Overall it was a pretty good effort,” said Dempsey. “To get six guys in double figures is very positive. It was good to see the balance. You hope to see a lot of different guys play in an environment like this, and we accomplished that. You get to turn the lights on, get to put the uniforms on, get to see some areas where we need work. We’ll look at the tape and see what we didn’t do so well and work on that, to get ready for a big one Friday night.
The Broncs open the 2005-06 season at home against Bucknell Friday.
-RU-
