Full gamer up later at trentonian.com.

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – For Rider, the result was disheartening but not surprising.

In a 72-59 loss to Iona, the Broncs fell deeper into a hole that looks increasingly hard for them to emerge from. They fell far short against a team that outplayed them from start to finish and dominated every facet of the stat sheet – a scenario that has played out repeatedly over the past month.

“I think sometimes it’s about when you play somebody in the schedule,” coach Tommy Dempsey said. “Right now there’s two teams: One hot, one struggling. We went at it tonight, and the team that was hot came out on top.”

With 10 MAAC games remaining, Rider (10-10 overall, 3-5 MAAC) is one conference loss away from equaling its season total from last year, when the Broncs went 12-6 in the league and were within a last-second Tyrone Lewis bank shot of their second straight MAAC title game.

The Broncs, losers of three of their last four, fell into yet another double-digit hole yesterday. As has often been the case, the surge they attempted to make was far from enough.

The Gaels (13-6, 5-3) are one of the hottest teams in the MAAC, having won four straight to pull into sole possession of third place in the conference. Scott Machado scored a game-high 20 points, Trinity Fields added 12 and Alejo Rodriguez eight points and nine rebounds.

Iona held the Broncs to 1-for-15 3-point shooting (6.7 percent) – Rider’s worst performance from beyond the arc in what has been an increasingly frustrating season.

“I have so much respect for Ryan Thompson and Justin Robinson as shooters,” said Iona coach Kevin Willard. “Obviously, Ryan is a terrific basketball player, but I wanted them to take tough 2s and not open 3s. They really get going when they make open shots. I thought we did a good job of chasing them at the line.”