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Rider 62, Niagara 61
This was the kind of performance that has been missing all year — one in which Rider fell behind early but rebounded, coming away with a win that the Broncs hope is the beginning of a turnaround.
Novar Gadson’s tip-in with five seconds left lifted Rider to a 62-61 win yesterday at Niagara, giving the Broncs an unexpected lift that ended a three-game losing streak.
Rider (11-11 overall, 4-6 MAAC) won’t reach its lofty regular-season goals no matter how many wins it can pull off down the stretch.
But coach Tommy Dempsey talked Saturday about Rider needing to remember what it felt like to win. The Broncs, he said, needed some semblance of momentum to build toward the MAAC tournament and avoid an embarrassing final month of the regular season.
By beating the Purple Eagles — another team that has fallen far short of expectations — Rider finally found something to feel good about heading into Thursday’s game against Manhattan.
Down by 11 early in the second half, Rider staged a comeback, rallying to tie the game at 49 with 9:51 left in the game.
Niagara (11-11, 4-6), playing without injured guard Tyrone Lewis, built a 60-53 lead on an Austin Cooley layup with 6:09 left. But faced again with the kind of deficit they have been unable to overcome in the past, the Broncs made a run.
Rider cut the deficit to 61-60 on Gadson’s layup with 46 seconds left, then got a crucial stop on Niagara’s next possession, when Gadson rebounded Cooley’s missed 3 with 14 seconds left.
Needing a basket to take the lead, Rider turned to Thompson, who drove to the hoop and put up and off-balanced layup with six seconds left.
The layup bounced off the rim, but Gadson was there to tip it in with five seconds left.
Novar Gadson’s tip-in with five seconds left lifted Rider to a 62-61 win yesterday at Niagara, giving the Broncs an unexpected lift that ended a three-game losing streak.
Rider (11-11 overall, 4-6 MAAC) won’t reach its lofty regular-season goals no matter how many wins it can pull off down the stretch.
But coach Tommy Dempsey talked Saturday about Rider needing to remember what it felt like to win. The Broncs, he said, needed some semblance of momentum to build toward the MAAC tournament and avoid an embarrassing final month of the regular season.
By beating the Purple Eagles — another team that has fallen far short of expectations — Rider finally found something to feel good about heading into Thursday’s game against Manhattan.
Down by 11 early in the second half, Rider staged a comeback, rallying to tie the game at 49 with 9:51 left in the game.
Niagara (11-11, 4-6), playing without injured guard Tyrone Lewis, built a 60-53 lead on an Austin Cooley layup with 6:09 left. But faced again with the kind of deficit they have been unable to overcome in the past, the Broncs made a run.
Rider cut the deficit to 61-60 on Gadson’s layup with 46 seconds left, then got a crucial stop on Niagara’s next possession, when Gadson rebounded Cooley’s missed 3 with 14 seconds left.
Needing a basket to take the lead, Rider turned to Thompson, who drove to the hoop and put up and off-balanced layup with six seconds left.
The layup bounced off the rim, but Gadson was there to tip it in with five seconds left.
posted by Ben Doody at
6:53 PM
13 Comments:
"Rider (11-11 overall, 4-6 MAAC) won’t reach its lofty presesaon goals no matter how many wins it can pull off down the stretch."
why keep bring this up? how many times can you write about the same thing....nobody cares about the preseason on jan 24th. you need to get a new angle.
Sorry, have to put things on context. If they were 22-0, I wouldn't leave out the fact that they were undefeated and on an amazing run.
that makes no sense. if they were 22-0 then the amazing run would be the current story.
the recent struggles (and the reasons for them) are the current story....not the preseason expectations, votes or quotes. that stuff is old news.
Let's hope Tommy doesn't proclaim this as the teams ultimate win. Be honest, Niagara was missing their best player, yet Rider acted like they won the MAAC.
Kudos to Doody for taking the preseason goals at Dempsey.
FAZ,
This isn't about particular quotes. It's about what kind of season Rider is having.
Find me a game story where I've even mentioned Dempsey's vote. To my knowledge, I don't think I've done it once all year.
Anyway, it's a big win for them, as the story suggests. ... Overcame some obstacles they have been unable to overcome for most of the year.
What's the deal with Jermaine Jackson the last 3 games Ben?
Anon,
Dempsey suspended Jackson for a violation of team rules. He didn't make the trip to Buffalo, but will play Thursday against Manhattan.
The thing about college basketball is it has basically become a 4 to 6 week sport starting in early February. Rider has 8 league games left (6 at home). If they got hot and made a run in the MAAC tourney, it would be a successful year.
Vice Versa, if Rider was 20-2 right now and had an awful February and got knocked out in the first round of the MAAC tourney, the year would be a disaster and no one would say "We opened 20-2, great year."
I agree, the comment "Rider won't reach its lofty preseason goals no matter how many wins it can pull off down the stretch" is a ridiculous comment at this point in the year.
Ben, "no matter how many wins?" If they won the MAAC tourney and upset someone in the first round of the NCAA tournament would you say, "Should have won more league games." Bad year?
I agree. The goals are to win the regular season and to go to the tournament. probably not going to win the regular season, but the ultimate goal (of today's CBB) is still alive. That's why it makes no sense to keep harping on the fact that they won't meet "preseason goals." Ben just doesn't get it though.
I've tried to be clear about this, but probably wasn't clear enough with that one line, which I then changed to include "regular season."
So the answer is yes, of course if Rider wins the MAAC tournament, even if they lose by 50 in the first round of the NCAAs, it will be the most successful year they've had in decades.
I don't agree, however, that a 20-2 start would have been irrelevant.
Looking at it from afar, people who aren't college hoops junkies don't know which teams win 24 games and play in the NIT. But to a program like Rider, seasons like the one they had two years ago are important.
They help a great deal in moving the program in the right direction and have real recruiting ramifications.
Seasons like that also do a ton of good for coaches. Dempsey's stock shot up after 2007-08 and was pretty high for a MAAC coach heading into this season.
So you may not end up on the cover of SI if you start 20-2 and lose in the MAAC tournament, but people in college basketball will take notice.
They'll also take notice if you finish in the bottom half of the MAAC, which is why the last month could prove damaging for Rider.
Ben, I wish everyone shared your view on looking at a season. But, I don't think many if any share your viewpoints.
College Basketball has become a March Sport. If you don't play well in February or March, you are labeled a choker who can't win the big game. Is that fair? NO Is it reality? YES
While obviously, the best scenario is to win all your games, I am sure if you polled 100 coaches in the country, they would say, let me be .500 on Feb 1st and finish with a bang than vice versa.
Most recruits that are looking at Rider couldn't tell you what the score of the Iona regular season games were this year. But if they played them on ESPN in a MAAC final, the country would be watching.
Does anyone remember in 2007-2008 that Rider went to Albany and buried Siena in the regular season? NO Do they remember Siena buried Rider in the MAAC final? YES
And as far as Dempsey "stock" I am assuming you are referring to life after Rider. Mid-Major coaches get jobs in March, not January.
That's true. If the preseason player of the year shows up the last month of the season and they make a run in Albany, then his stock will be "up". Nobody cares about preseason goals in Feb and March when your season is judged on how you are playing at the end
Happen to agree with the last two comments. In 2007-08 we shared the regular season crown, had a great regular season, and still didn't get any respect from the NIT committee.
I always thought they were watching us lose by thirty in the MAAC final and killed us based on that fact. Obivously the NIT didn't care about what we had done in the MAAC all year.
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