January 29, 2007 - Rider 54 Saint Peter's 53
January 29, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Basketball
Rider University 54, Saint Peter’s College 53
JERSEY CITY— Junior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) made a lay-up with 4.5 seconds left to give Rider a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory at Saint Peter’s Monday night. Thompson finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. “You take them any way you can get them,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “When you are on the road you just have to find a way, and tonight we found a way to get it done at the end.”
“We practice that play a lot in practice,” said Thompson. “I love it when Coach Dempsey calls my number. I love that responsibility with the game on the line.”
“That was a designed play and the guys executed it well,” said Dempsey. Thompson scored on the lay from a pass from sophomore Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA), who finished with five points and three assists.
Rider (12-9, 6-5 MAAC) trailed 46-40 before going on a 9-0 run to take a 49-46 lead with 6:43 left to play. Sophomore Lamar Johnson (Scranton, PA/Scranton) made a three-point field goal with 7:43 left to give Rider its first lead, 47-46 with 7:43 left. Johnson finished with a game-high 19 points, 14 in the second half.
“Lamar was huge in the second half,” said Dempsey. “He just stepped up when no one really had anything going. He just took it upon himself to keep us in the game. He made big shot after big shot, which took Saint Peter’s out of their zone defense, and we looked much more comfortable down the stretch playing against their man defense.”
“Overall I didn’t think we played too well tonight, even thought we got the win” said Johnson, who made five three-point field goals. “I’ve been working a lot in the gym and I think my shot is back. My shot selection has not been what it needs to be.” Johnson shot 6-13 from the field and made both of his foul shots Monday.
“I told Lamar when he was struggling that he was going to play and not to look over his shoulder,” Dempsey said. “I told him I have confidence in him and that is why we put him back in the starting line up and since then he has played the caliber of basketball we expected of him.”
Trailing 34-22 at the half, Rider out-scored Saint Peter’s (3-17, 1-9 MAAC) 18-9 over the first 7:30 of the second half, 11 points by Johnson. “It was gut-check time for us at half time,” Dempsey said.
Sophomore guard Kevin Spann scored with 12.5 seconds left to give the Peacocks at 53-52 lead.
With the score tied at 14-14, SPC went on a 9-0 run, four points by junior forward Todd Sowell, to take a 23-14 lead, and the Peacocks led 34-22 at the half. Sowell finished with 11 points off the bench.
Rider shot just 22.7 percent (5-22) in the first half but shot 48 percent (12-25) in the second half.
“Their 1-3-1 zone really had us bobbing and weaving in he first half,” Dempsey said. “We just never got into a rhythm.”
Junior guard Raul Orta compiled 14 points for SPC and freshman guard Akeem Gooding scored nine points in the first half and finished with 11.
Rider defeated Saint Peter’s 75-67 at Rider on January 9.
The loss extended Saint Peter’s losing streak to 13 games. “You have to give them a lot of credit,” Dempsey said. “They’ve lost a bunch of games in a row but their kids competed tonight start to finish, probably harder than our kids did.”
Rider is now 6-6 on the road after winning just two away games last season.
Thompson, who was named the MAAC Co-Player of the Week for all games played January 22-28, now has 12 ‘double-doubles’ this season and 25 for his career. His 1,135 career points is now 20th and 655 rebounds is ninth highest ever at Rider.
Rider travels to Iona Saturday afternoon.
-RU-
