November 18, 2006 - Rider 66 Boston U. 60
November 18, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Basketball
Rider University 66, Boston University 60
BOSTON, MASS—Sophomore Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA) compiled a career-high 20 points and eight rebounds, and made four of four foul shots in the final 44 seconds of the game, to lead Rider to victory at Boston U. Saturday afternoon. “It felt great to win on the road,” said head coach Tommy Dempsey. “It wasn’t only a road win, it was a quality road win. BU is a very good team that is going to win a lot of games.”
Junior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) added a game-high 22 points, including 15 in the first half, and eight rebounds. “We were getting the ball to Jason almost every possession early on,” Dempsey said. “It was important to get him off to a good start. It was harder to get him the ball in the second half. They were doing everything they could to keep the ball out of his hands.”
Trailing 54-51, Rider (1-1) went on a 9-0 run to take a 60-54 lead with :57 left. Mansell made a three-pointer to tie the score for the ninth tie of the game with 3:00 remaining. Sophomore Kevin Vosilla (Massapequa, NY) made his first field goal of the game to give Rider a 56-54 lead, and senior Terrance Mouton (Lafayette, LA/Acadiana) followed with a field goal to give Rider a 58-54 lead with 1:50 left to play. Vosilla then made his first two foul shots of season to give Rider a 60-54 lead.
“Kevin played a big role again today,” Dempsey said. “When Jason picked up his fourth foul Kevin did a great job in the post defensively, and also came up with some big rebounds and hit two big free throws. He really played a nice role in the last three minutes.”
Sophomore Lamar Johnson (Scranton, PA/Scranton) added nine points, all in the first half. “Lamar came in off the bench and made three big threes when they were doubling down on Jason,” Dempsey said. “We hit some perimeter shots today, and that took some pressure off Jason.”
Rider trailed 28-19 with 7:02 left in the first half before going on a 16-4 run to take a 35-32 lead with 1:05 left before half time. A three-point field goal by Mansell tied the score at 32-32, and the Broncs took a 35-32 lead on a three-point field goal by Johnson. Rider led 35-34 at intermission.
“Harris played huge for us today,” Dempsey said. “We need some of our perimeter guys to step up. Every defense we see is focusing on stopping Jason inside, which opens up the perimeter. Harris took advantage of that today.”
Mansell made five of six shots from the field, including all three of his three-pointers, and made seven of eight foul shots. “I was feeling it today,” Mansell said. “I got hot.”
After making just 10 of 21 free throws in the season opening loss at NJIT, Rider made 15 of 18 foul shots Saturday, out-scoring BU 15-7 at the foul line. “We had some other areas that we had to address after the game the other night, and the funny thing is foul shooting was an area I didn’t even bring up,” Dempsey said. “I felt there were other things more important that we had to work on. That was the one area we didn’t address at all. I feel we have good shooters and they just have to get to the line and knock them down and today we did.”
The victory broke an eight-game losing streak, dating back to February 5, and a six-game losing streak in away games. The last Rider road win was January 27 at Canisius. “It feels real good to win on the road,” Mansell said. “We had trouble with that last year. It was pretty loud in their gym, it was a nice atmosphere, with a big marching band.”
The game featured seven lead changes in the second half.
Rider travels to Delaware Tuesday to seek its second consecutive road win. “The other night (loss at NJIT) was very disappointing to everybody and we rebounded from that,” Dempsey said. “To come back like we did today was a very good sign.”
-RU-
