February 3, 2007 - Iona 69 Rider 57
February 3, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men's College Basketball
Iona College 69, Rider University 57
NEW ROCHELLE, NY—The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Iona Saturday afternoon. “I just want to tip my hat to the Iona program,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “They hung in there and fought today.”
The victory was the first of the year for Iona (1-22, 1-12 MAAC), the last Division I team to collect its first win of the season. The loss snapped Rider’s two-game winning streak. “They were due to get a win and unfortunately we were the team to give it up,” Dempsey said. “They were going to get the win sooner or later, and I’m sure it won’t be their last win.”
Trailing 45-41, Iona out-scored Rider (12-10, 6-6 MAAC) 15-3, five by Devon Clarke, to take a 56-48 lead with 4:10 left to play. That was the 14th and final lead change of the game. Clarke finished with a game-high 19 points.
Iona made 13 of 18 foul shots in the final 3:12 to preserve the victory. “Iona is not a great free throw shooting team,” Dempsey said. “So we were hoping to extend the game by fouling them and putting them on the line. We were hoping they would miss a few more than they did.” Iona was 20 for 30 from the line for the game.
“Whether we’re playing the first place or the last place team, we try to focus on Rider,” Dempsey said. “We didn’t play well today. We’re more focused on that than it being Iona’s first win. The way they’ve been playing they could have six or seven wins by now. It being their first win wasn’t that important to us.”
Junior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) scored Rider’s first seven points of the game and finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in just 28 minutes of action due to foul trouble. “It is frustrating that we are their first win,” said Thompson. “If we had played well for a full 40 minutes we would have beaten them like we did at home earlier this season.”
Rider defeated Iona 69-55 on December 7 at Rider.
Senior point guard Terrance Mouton (Lafayette, LA/Acadiana) did not dress for the game for disciplinary reasons, according to Coach Dempsey. “That hurt, not having our second leading scorer and our point guard,” said Thompson, who entered the game ranked 11th in the nation in rebounding, 22nd in blocks and 29th in scoring.
Trailing 38-34, Rider went on a 9-0 run, five points by sophomore Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA), to take a 43-38 lead with 12:46 left to play. Mansell finished with 14 points, all in the second half, along with four assists.
Milan Prodanovic made a three-point field goal just before the halftime buzzer to give the Gaels a 28-26 lead at intermission. That was the 12th lead change of the first half. Prodanovic finished with nine points.
Rider shot just 31 percent in the first half, compared to Iona’s 50 percent shooting from the field over the first 20 minutes, and the Broncs shot 30 percent for the game (17-56), while Iona shot 54.5 percent (24-44).
Iona led 13-9 before Rider went on an 8-2 run, six points by sophomore Lamar Johnson (Scranton, PA/Scranton) on a pair of three-point field goals, to take a 17-15 lead with 7:40 remaining in the first half. Johnson finished with 11 points.
Iona’s leading scorer, senior Anthony Bruin (13.0 ppg, 6.8 rebs) did not play due to a sprained ankle.
Iona was the 2006 MAAC Champion.
Rider hosts Marist Monday night. “We just have to stay tough and keep winning at home, starting Monday,” Thompson said.
-RU-
