Rider fades in second half at Hofstra
a tiebreaking 3 in the final seconds of the second half.
The clock showed 1.1 seconds after Powell’s stepback, double-clutch jumper went through, but officials put 1.5 on the clock after a replay review. That made all the difference for Kentucky when PJ Washington inbounded from the baseline and threw a long pass to an open Johnson. He caught the ball near half court, turned over his left shoulder and hurled a right-handed shot that went in as the buzzer sounded to tie the score at 70.
— The Associated Press HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. >> You couldn’t help but walk away from Rider’s loss to Hofstra feeling like it was self-inflicted setback.
The Broncs got battered on the boards, missed free throws and eventually fell to the Pride, 89-73, at the Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on Saturday afternoon.
“No blocking out, lack of discipline, lack of execution,” coach Kevin Baggett said running through the list of things that plagued his 2-3 Broncs. “I keep saying the same things about our team. We lack discipline, we lack the understanding ... everybody is going to the glass against us because we don’t block out. We gave up key secondchance points.”
The stats spoke for themselves. Rider was out rebounded 35-17, gave up 15 offensive boards, was outscored 17-4 in second chance and shot 9-for-20 (45 percent) from the line.
“We lacked in certain things we needed to do,” said forward Dimencio Vaughn, who finished with 16 points. “You got to meet somebody before they go to crash or got rebound the ball. That’s basically what it was. We got to block out.”
Justin Wright-Foreman scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half for Hofstra (7-3), which improved to 3-0 against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference oppositions. Tareq Coburn added 19 points, Desure Buie had 14 and Eli Pemberton 12.
The Pride ended the game on a 16-3 run after Rider pulled within 73-70 on Vaughn’s basket at the 5:40 mark. Hofstra also shot 18for-21 from the foul line.
Stevie Jordan led the Broncs with 17 points.
Rider’s five total games played is the fewest of any team in the country, although the schedule gets busy now with seven games in three different time zones on tap before the end of the month.
“I’m not trying to put (the schedule) as the reason why, but it is a little different this year,” Vaughn said. “It was kind of spaced out and not really in the flow.”
Vaughn, though, said there is no panic in the Rider locker room.
“We’ll find that rhythm and get back to the team we’re supposed to be,” he said. “We’ll got back to the drawing board at practice tomorrow, watch film and see what we did wrong.”
The Tigers and Red Storm are meeting for the first time since 1982 and Princeton is making its first trip to Madison Square Garden since playing a pair of games against Penn State and Rutgers on Dec. 26-27, 2000. The Tigers have visited MSG infrequently despite being a short train ride away and haven’t won there since sweeping a pair of contests over Niagara and Drexel in 1997. This game is part of MSG Holiday Festival and is preceded by Iona and Columbia at 11 a.m. That gives the Tigers an up close look at their next opponents as well since they face Iona Saturday at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
Scouting St. John’s: Coached by Hall of Famer Chris Mullin, the Red Storm are 8-0 for the first time since the 1990-91 season when they reached the Elite Eight. While the schedule isn’t a list of blue bloods, St. John’s has picked up nice victories over VCU, Rutgers and Georgia Tech. Junior guard Shamorie Ponds is to go-to scorer, averaging 21 points per game. At just 6-1, 175-pounds, the Brooklyn native is as tough as they come. He’s already had three games of 30 or more points, including a season-high 37 in the win over Georgia Tech. Junior Mustapha Heron, an Auburn transfer, is second on the team in scoring at 16.8 points and gives the Red Storm a formidable 1-2 punch in the backcourt.