Rider cruises to easy win over Wagner
NEW YORK >> On paper, this had all the makings of tricky non-conference road game.
In reality, Rider was ready for it.
Jordan Allen scored 24 points, Dimencio Vaughn added 19 and the Broncs sprinted to an easy 89-65 victory over Wagner at the Spiro Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
“In the locker room, coach was telling us to keep the same energy we had last game,” junior guard Stevie Jordan said. “We just wanted to jump out and attack them from the beginning of the game.”
That’s exactly what Rider did with its full court pressure, forcing 13 turnovers in the first half en route to a 21-point lead at intermission. Coach Kevin Baggett wants to press for 40 minutes because his team thrives in an up-tempo game and he knows opponents will want to play zone against them.
“(When we press), we don’t have to get into half court and worry about their zone (because) that’s an opportunity to be able to score easier baskets,” Baggett said. “We’re going to (zone) and we got to be ready for it and we got to attack, share the ball and make the extra passes.”
“That’s the game we want to play,” Jordan said. “We want to play up and down, force the temp and make it faster. That’s how we get buckets.”
The Broncs (2-1) busted the game open with a 20-3 first-half run in which Allen connected on three of his six made 3-pointers. Allen finished 6-for-11 from beyond the arc and 8-for-13 from the field, numbers that also included a four-point play and a two-handed slam after Jordan found him on a baseline cut.
Allen’s improved off-theball movement makes him a bigger threat than simply being a spot-up shooter.
“When I look up, he’s jabbing one way and going somewhere else and getting open for a shot or getting a dunk,” said Jordan, who dished out 10 assists to go with six points and four rebounds. “It gets the whole team hyped. We want to play more defense, get more stops, make more 3s.”
Tyere Marshall and Frederick Scott added 10 points each for the Broncs, who led by as many as 30 in the second half, but never let the Seahawks (2-4) get closer than 20.
“We played West Chester and we were up 20 points and we let them come back into the game,” Jordan said. “Today we weren’t going to let them do that.”
Baggett pointed to maturity, which seems to be his word of the season.
“We’re not a young team anymore, so knowing in the second half not to let a team back,” he said. “Right from the start what we did in the first half, try and do it in the second half. They know it now, too. I’m just preaching maturity and we have to continue to grow and get better everyday.” 3-for-4 from the stripe and made his last two.
For 3
The Broncs connected on 45.1 percent from beyond the arc, making 11 of their 24 attempts. In addition to Allen’s six 3s, Vaughn was 3-for-4 and Ahmad Gilbert 2-for-3.