Murray leads Rider past Manhattan in MAAC opener
Dwight Murray Jr. has wasted little time putting his imprint on the Rider men’s basketball team.
It’s only been three games, but the Broncs look like they have themselves an All-MAAC player.
Murray scored 20 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out seven assists to guide Rider past Manhattan, 82-64, in the conference opener for both teams at Draddy Gymnasium in Riverdale, N.Y., on Friday night.
“He’s just a gamer, man,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “He’s a kid who shows up every day and does the same things in practice. I’m not surprised by anything that’s getting done from him. Those are the things he’s shown us in practice all year long.”
Murray transferred to Rider from Incarnate Word over the summer and was granted a waiver by the NCAA in November that allowed him to play immediately. He’s been an instant hit, averaging 19.6 points, nine rebounds and 6.3 assists in 38 minutes through the team’s first three games.
“When we played St. John’s we knew right away that we needed to compete, and it showed everybody on this team that we can play with anybody,” the junior point guard said. “It gave us a boost to come together, and we can win any game in this conference.”
Talk to anybody around the program, and they say from day one that Murray was the leader of a group that has 12 new faces.
“It comes naturally,” Murray said. “I’ve always been in that position since high school.”
The 6-foot Murray took charge on Friday night by grabbing 12 of his 15 rebounds in the first half. He had a double-double by halftime with 12 points and 12 boards.
“I know that (rebounding) is one of my strongest suits,” Murray said.
The Broncs (1-2) busted the game open with a 13-1 run to start the second half highlighted by a fast break alley-oop with Murray feeding Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson. Rider stretched the lead to as many as 21 on Murray’s jumper with 8:55 remaining and cruised to the finish line.
“We executed better,” Baggett said. “We played better defense and handled the pressure. We knew those guys were going to come out in the second half and try and press us more. We found the holes in their zone to (get) to the open area where we could attack. I thought our guys did a good job sharing it.”
Christian Ings, who returned to the lineup after missing the St. John’s game with a foot injury, scored 14 points, Rodney Henderson Jr. added 13 and Tyrel Bladen had 11 and nine rebounds. The Broncs shot 66.9% from beyond the arc (6-for-9) and won the glass, 47-28.
Anthony Nelson, a Seton Hall transfer, led the Jaspers (0-1) with 19 points. Manhattan was playing its first game of the season, following a Covid pause.
These teams meet again on Saturday night at Draddy Gymnasium to finish the two-game series. The MAAC is using a back-to-back schedule format with both games taking places at the same venue to help combat concerns about Covid.
Several league games have already been impacted by Covid, with three schools — Monmouth, Siena and Quinnipiac — having been ruled out of opening weekend due to positive tests. After the Iona
Monmouth series was postponed, Iona was to have faced Quinnipiac, but when both Quinnipiac and Siena announced pauses earlier this week, the league adjusted by sending Iona to Fairfield, which was Siena’s originally scheduled opponent.
“We don’t get too high, we don’t get too low,” Baggett said. “We’ll make sure our guys won’t do the same. (Manhattan) is good, it was picked in the top half of the league for a reason. They are trying to get their legs coming out of quarantine. We know they are going to go after us and be a little bit more desperate
than they were today.”
Rider, meanwhile, is off to a winning start in league play despite being picked to finish last.
“I always have a chip on my shoulder, but when I saw that, it was just making me say I got to push my guys, my teammates to the next level, so they can be able to get to that No. 1 spot, to show everybody that we can play with anybody,” Murray said. “It’s really because everybody hasn’t seen us. Now they’ve seen us, and I’m pretty sure people know (we) can play with anybody now.”