February 5, 2007 - Marist 79 Rider 78
February 5, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men's College Basketball
Marist College 79, Rider University 78
LAWRENCEVILLE--The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Marist Monday evening. The victory puts Marist back into a tie for first place with Loyola. “We played with a lot of pride in the second half and almost pulled off a great win,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
Marist (17-7, 9-4 MAAC) made 16 of 32 three-point field goal attempts. “When a team makes 16 threes in a game, it is very hard to recover from,” Dempsey said. “But we didn’t quit. They had it going tonight and they’re one of the best teams in the league. When a team gets in a rhythm and shoots like that you can get blown out, but we were determined not to let that happen.”
Marist senior guard Will Whittington, who ranks sixth in the nation in three-point field goals made per game, led all scorers with 32 points, making eight of 15 three-pointers. Whittington’s foul shot with :07 left gave Marist a 79-75 lead.
Rider out-scored Marist 47-37 in the second half. “As well as Will shot the ball in the first half, we needed every point we got in the second half to win this game,” said Marist head coach Matt Brady. “Rider played so well in the second half., they have a lot of fire power and they know how to come back.”
“Tonight was a pretty well played game offensively by both teams, but we didn’t have a lot of answers defensively,” Dempsey said. “They just shot the ball so well.”
Trailing 66-51, Rider (12-11, 6-7 MAAC) went on a 18-5 run, eight points by freshman Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) and four by junior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape), to cut the lead to 71-69 with 2:53 left to play, but that was as close as the Broncs could get until senior Terrance Mouton (Lafayette, LA/Acadiana) made a three-pointer with :01 left for the final score. Mouton finished with 12 points.
Jason Thompson finished with 22 points, with younger brother Ryan Thompson adding 16 points and five rebounds off the Rider bench. “Ryan made some big plays,” Brady said. “We’re used to coming back,” Ryan Thompson said. “We’ve been having a lot of games where we dig a hole, but then we climb out. We’re used to it. We need to stop digging the holes.”
“We don’t have a lot of guys in the locker room that quit,” Dempsey said. “I wasn’t shocked that we came back. We have had a lot of heart throughout the season. This team has been very resilient when their backs were to the wall. Not just in the season but in individual games. When our back was against the wall tonight we kept scrapping. Now we have a situation where in the league our backs are against the wall. We have two home games this week (Friday night vs. Manhattan, Sunday afternoon vs. Canisius) to get back over .500 and get back in the mix.”
Trailing 27-25, Marist went on a 17-2 run, nine points by Whittington, to take a 42-29 lead, and the Red Foxes led 42-31 at half time on Whittington’s 21 first half points. “Marist had their ‘A’ game going tonight,” Dempsey said, “but we found a way to stay in the game. We just didn’t pull it out at the end.”
Trailing 17-12, Rider went on a 13-6 run, five points by Jason Thompson, to take a 25-23 lead with 7:15 left in the first half.
Rider sophomore Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA) added 14 points
Marist senior guard Jared Jordan, the national leader in assists for the second year in a row and the MAAC preseason Player of the Year, compiled 18 points and eight assists, along with five rebounds.
Jason Thompson ranks 10th in the nation in rebounds, 28th in scoring and 29th in blocks, but had just four rebounds and one block against Marist. “Marist has a couple of big guys and some talented players who made some tough shots,” Jason Thompson said.
Rider is 31st in the nation in free throw percentage but was just four for seven from the line Monday night. “Getting to the foul line, and then making our foul shots, is something we’ve been good at this year,” Dempsey said. “We’re the best free throw shooting team in the league and we’ve also gotten there plenty of times. We didn’t quite get there enough tonight.”
Rider hosts Manhattan Friday night in the second game of an Alumni Gym doubleheader with the women hosting Niagara at 5:30 p.m.
-RU-
