February 18, 2006 - Northeastern 92 Rider 79
February 18, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Basketball
Northeastern University 92, Rider University 79
BOSTON, MA—Sophomore Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) and senior Paul Johnson (Virginia Beach, VA/Salem) came in off the bench to combine for 29 points and 18 rebounds, but it was not enough as Rider lost a non-conference game at Northeastern Saturday. “We fought for 40 minutes, which has been a constant all season,” said Rider coach Tommy Dempsey. “For most of this game we played well.”
The Huskies (15-10, 10-6 CAA) began the second half with a 13-1 run to take a 52-39 lead with 15:00 left to play. “In the beginning of the second half, we weren’t scoring, which didn’t overly concern me,” said Dempsey, “but we didn’t get any stops, either, and that is what hurt us. When you get in a scoring drought your defense has to keep you in the game, and that didn’t happen today.”
Northeastern led 39-38 at halftime, after 10 lead changes and eight ties in the first 20 minutes of the game. “Our half court offense was terrific in the first half,” said Dempsey. “They switched to a zone defense in the second half and we didn’t get any good looks. The zone seemed to take us out of our rhythm.”
Rider (8-17, 4-12 MAAC) trailed 61-43 before going on a 12-4 run, six points by Paul Johnson, to cut the lead to 10, 65-55 with 8:00 remaining. Nine points (81-72) with 2:00 left was as close as Rider could get. Johnson finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Rider made eight three-point field goals in the last 10 minutes of the game to stay in the contest, and made nine of 21 for the game after making just one of four in the first half.
Five minutes into the game, Rider went on an 8-2 run, five points by Thompson and three by Johnson as soon as they entered the game, and Rider took a 13-9 with 12:20 left in the first half. Thompson scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his eighth ‘double-double’ of the season and 13th of his career.
Rider senior Edwin Muniz (Passaic) compiled 17 points and five rebounds, and junior Terrance Mouton (Lafayette, LA/Acadiana) added 14 points.
Jose Juan Barea, who averages a CAA-high 21 points per game, compiled 27 points and 11 assists for the Huskies. “We couldn’t stop Barea,” said Dempsey. “He dominated the game with his offense.” Shawn James, the nation’s leader in blocked shots, added 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Rider led 19-14 before Northeastern went on a 10-2 run to take a 24-21 lead mid-way through the first half. “Northeastern is a very good team,” Dempsey said.
Trailing 32-28, Rider went on an 8-3 run, four by Muniz, to take a 36-35 lead with 3:31 left in the first half.
This game resulted out of participating in the original pool of teams that were under consideration for the BracketBusters presented by eBay. In April, 2005, ESPN selected 100 teams, representing 18 conferences, to participate in the BracketBusters presented by eBay "pool" of teams. Of the 100 teams, 26 teams (13 games) were selected by ESPN as the 2006 "BracketBusters presented by eBay" field. For the remaining 74 teams in the "pool", of which Rider was one, an intra-conference home and home series was created.
The Broncs play their final two games of the regular season at home, Friday against Loyola and Sunday against Saint Peter’s.
-RU-
