November 30, 2006 - Monmouth 67 Rider 66
November 30, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Basketball
Monmouth University 67, Rider University 66
LAWRENCEVILLE—Despite a career-high 29 points by junior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape), Rider saw its four-game winning streak come to an end with a loss to Monmouth Thursday. “It is very disappointing when you are that close to victory and don’t execute in the last minute of the game,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “Hopefully this will be something we can learn from.”
Monmouth sophomore guard Whitney Coleman scored a lay-up with: 05 remaining for the winning basket. “All of these Rider-Monmouth games seem to go down to the wire,” said Monmouth head coach Dave Calloway.
Trailing 64-59, Monmouth (3-5) senior forward Dejan Delic made back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 64-63 with 1:06 left. “Delic killed us,” Dempsey said. “He was unbelievable, scoring big basket after big basket when we were trying to put them away.” Delic led Monmouth with 25 points.
Monmouth sophomore guard Mike Shipman scored with: 18 left to cut the lead to 66-65, and then stole the Rider inbounds pass and set up Coleman with the winning basket. Shipman and Coleman each scored just four points in the game. “I knew Coleman was going to make that shot, since he had made only one shot the entire game up to that point,” Calloway said. “He was due.”
“You can’t make crucial mistakes in a tight game,” Dempsey said. “We didn’t stop them consistently enough.”
With the score tied at 58-58, Rider (4-2) went on a 6-1 run to take a 64-59 lead.
For the Broncs, Thompson grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for his 16th career double-double. “We have a lot of talent on this team,” Thompson said, “we just didn’t play up to our ability tonight.”
Thompson also collected his 500th career rebound, and now has 508 in 63 Rider games.
Monmouth led 48-43 before the Broncs made three three-point field goals, out-scoring Monmouth 11-3 to take a 54-51 lead with 6:10 remaining.
Also for Rider, freshman Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) compiled 13 points, while sophomore Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA) added 10 points and seven rebounds.
7’2” center John Bunch added 12 points and six rebounds off the Monmouth bench.
The game featured six lead changes and 11 ties. Monmouth out-scored Rider 9-4 over the final 3:50 of the first half to take a 30-26 lead into the locker room at intermission.
Trailing 39-33, Rider went on a 10-4 run, seven points coming from the Thompson brothers, to tie the score at 43-43.
Rider makes its first ever trip to Binghamton Saturday afternoon. “I wasn’t pleased with the way we played tonight, so we’re looking to play better Saturday,” Dempsey said.
-RU-
