February 15, 2006 - Iona 83 Rider 79
February 15, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Basketball
Iona College 83, Rider University 79
LAWRENCEVILLE--Behind 26 points by sophomore Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape), the Broncs staged another great comeback before falling to the top team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Iona. “I’m very proud of our kids,” said Rider coach Tommy Dempsey. “It would have been so easy to pack it in for the season with the top team in the league coming in and we get down early. They’ve never given in and that gives me a lot of pride in them.”
Iona (19-5, 13-3 MAAC) led 40-22 before Rider out-scored the Gaels 12-0 in the final three minutes of the first half, seven points by Thompson, to cut the lead to 40-34 at intermission. Rider then scored the first six points of the second half to tie the score at 40-40.
“Lot of credit to Rider,” said Iona head coach Jeff Ruland. “They never gave up. They did a nice job from the foul line (28-31). When we’re up 18 points we usually put a team away, so kudos to Rider.”
Senior guard Ricky Soliver scored 22 points, and senior guard Steve Burtt added 20 points to lead Iona. “Their senior guards are tough to stop,” said Dempsey. “They took over the game late.”
Rider (8-16, 4-12 MAAC) led 75-71 with 3:17 left before Iona went on an 8-2 run, four points by Soliver, to take a 79-77 lead with :56 left. Iona made four of six foul shots in the final 8.7 seconds, the final two by Soliver, for the final score.
Rider tied the score at 79-79 on two foul shots by junior Terrance Mouton (Lafayette, LA/Acadiana) with :49 left, but could not re-gain the lead. Mouton finished with 11 points off the bench.
The Gaels led 42-40 before Rider went on a 6-2 run, four points by Thompson, to take its first lead of the game, 46-44 with 15:43 left to play. “We got off to another slow start, but we were able to get some stops and get back into it,” said Thompson, who made 12 of 13 foul shots. “This game showed that we’re right there with the top team in the MAAC. It just went their way down the stretch.” Thompson tied his career-high with four blocks.
Rider freshman Rodney Pierce (Buffalo, NY/Hutchinson Tech) scored a career-high 10 points. “We’ll look at how hard we played tonight and build on this for the conference tournament in Albany,” said Pierce.
Rider senior Edwin Muniz (Passaic) added 12 points in 29 minutes before fouling out, and senior Paul Johnson (Virginia Beach, VA/Salem) added nine points and nine rebounds.
Anthony Bruin added 19 points for Iona.
Rider travels to Northeastern Saturday afternoon for a non-conference game.
“Games like this help a young and talented team like us grow up,” said Dempsey. “A team has to weather tough times to become a great team. We once again showed our ability to keep fighting no matter what, and I love this team for that. I see so much room for improvement with the young guys, so much potential. We’ve come to realize this is coming down to a one weekend season for us, in Albany.”
-RU-
