Frustrated Broncs drop 4th in a row
LAWRENCEVILLE >> W hen the calendar flipped from January to February, Rider was 7-1 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and sitting in first place.
These last ten days, however, have been ten forgettable days.
The Broncs are in a free-fall and badly need to stop the bleeding after they dropped a fourth consecutive game by slumping to a 59-57 setback against Siena at Alumni Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.
“When you’re losing, you have to make those plays, you have to make it happen,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “When you’re winning, the balls bounce your way, they bounce in. We’re losing, so we have to find a way.”
Rider’s four losses during this skid are by a combined 14 points and three of them are by four points or less.
When it comes to making the right play in crunch time, the Broncs simply are not doing it. On Sunday, they had multiple chances go in front
— their only lead in the game was 2-0 — but came away empty.
They had the ball three times down 54-53 and were called for an offensive foul, missed a wide-open 3 and missed from in close. Then they missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with score tied at
55. Then trailing by one in what was effectively the game’s most crucial possession, Frederick Scott missed a contested layup and Stevie Jordan’s follow-up — one that almost certainly drops nine times out of 10 — spilled out with five seconds left.
“We had opportunities,” Baggett said, “that’s for sure.”
When it’s going bad, well …
“Everybody wants to win and get off this losing streak,” Baggett said. “Everybody is pressing. We know everybody else’s expectations and we know ours. We’re not living up to them right now.”
This latest setback leaves Rider (12-12, 7-5) one game behind the leaders in the loss column in what’s going to be a close race to the finish.
“It’s just tough right now,” said junior center Tyere Marshall, who finished with 19 points. “This will define people when we struggle. It will take you down or you’re going to stand up to it and keep fighting and we’re going to keep fighting.”
It won’t be easy with the Broncs in the midst of an eight-game in 18 days stretch. Signs of fatigue were evident during a 33.9 percent shooting afternoon, which included a 1-for-16 from 3. Rider is a grizzly 27.2 percent (60-for-220) from beyond the arc in 12 MAAC games.
“We’re not going to quit,” Baggett said. “Everyone can say whatever they want and in that locker room we know what we have. We know what we’re capable of. We’ll stay together, that’s all we can do. Find a way. Once you get a win then things start to happen and then we get winning again and all is well.”
Siena, on the other hand, is flying toward a high seed after it was picked dead last in the preseason poll. First year coach Jamion Christian has guided his Saints (13-12, 8-4) to victories in seven of their last eight games.
Freshman point guard Jalen Pickett is playing at an all-league level and as a result Rider tried to trap him off the high ball screen and take the ball out of his hands. That left a lot of shots for forward Evan Fisher, who scored 21 points and hit a pair of key free throws to put Siena up, 57-55, with 3:04 remaining.
Scott tied it at 57 with a pair of free throws at the two-minute mark, but the Broncs didn’t score the remainder of the way. Ahmad Gilbert, who played well in 16 minutes off the bench, had a 3-pointer rim out with 47 seconds left and after the Saints twice hit only one of two free throws there was still time for Jordan Allen to hoist a 3 at the buzzer that was well off the mark.
“We all got one goal and we’re not going to let this bring us down,” Marshall said. “We’re struggling right now, but we’re going to move on to the next game. We know what we’re capable of. We did it in the beginning of MAAC play and we can do it again.”