Rider rallies from 21-point deficit to knock off Marist
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. » A comeback for the ages.
On a night when Rider looked out of synch and about to be run out of the gym by the last-place team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, it somehow found a way to win.
Dimencio Vaughn scored 28 points, Stevie Jordan had 19 and Rider capped off an improbable rally from a 21-point second-half deficit to beat Marist, 89-79, on Saturday night at McCann Arena.
The Broncs (19-7, 12-2) won their eighth straight game and remained in first place in the league by a half of game.
Rider closed the game on a 28-4 run and finally surged in front when Vaughn completed a three-point play with 2:05 remaining.
Vaughn scored 15 points during that 28-4 close to the game, which also included a 14-0 spurt after trailing 78-73 with 3:41 remaining.
“I was just born that way to be motivated to win,” Vaughn said. “I hate losing. Whatever I got to do to help us win, that’s what I’ll do.”
The Broncs found themselves in a hole after the Red Foxes (5-21, 3-11) torched their defense for 10 first-half 3-pointers and then opened the second half on an 11-2 run.
Eventually, Rider began to battle back and chipped away at the deficit and a comeback began to look like a possibility after Kealen Washington-Ives and Jordan Allen connected on 3s on three consecutive trips that sliced the deficit to 12.
“We just battled,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “We never gave up. They just kept saying coach, ‘just keep pressing them.’ We matched up and started picking up full manto-man and pressure the as much as possible and get them to speed up and not execute their offense to the rhythm they were.”
The press forced Marist into 18 second-half turnovers and 23 points off those giveaways. Rider finished with 36 points from 26 Red Foxes turnovers.
“Even on dead balls we pressed,” Vaughn said. “Even if you’re tired, raise your hand and we’ll get a sub and then sub you get back in. That was good for us.”
Ryan Funk scored 18 points to lead Marist, which shot 1-for-9 from long range in the second half. Brian Parker finished with one of the wackiest stat lines of the season, compiling 10 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and nine turnovers.
Rider scored 62 points in the second half.
“I felt like a comeback was possible the whole game,” Jordan said. “We’re going to play until the clock says zero in the second half. It looked kind of crazy, but we just had to chip away slowly and that’s what we did.”