Broncs go cold, settle for split with Stags

Trailing by five with seven minutes remaining, Rider had seemingly begun to generate momentum as it tried to rally for a weekend sweep.

The next four possessions showed a team not yet ready to close the deal.

The Broncs went cold down the stretch and had to settle for a split of their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference series as Fairfield pulled away for a 72-56 victory on Saturday night at Alumni Hall in Fairfield, Conn.

Rider (2-6, 2-4) has now lost the second game of all three back-toback sets thus far. The Stags (29, 2-4) snapped a six-game losing streak against the Broncs and reached the 70-point threshold in regulation for the first time in 43 games under second-year coach Jay Young.

“Every game you lose is a missed opportunity in my book,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “I don’t see it any other way. It’s very disappointing that we’ve had a chance to close out the second game and not responded yet.”

Down 57-52 after back-to-back baskets by Dontrell McQuarter and Dwight Murray Jr., here were Rider’s next four offensive trips:

• Missed 3-pointer by Rodney Henderson Jr. early in the shot clock.

• Allen Powell wild shot off the side of the backboard.

• Turnover on inbound play.

• Murray 35-foot heave with shot clocks expiring.

By the time the Broncs finally scored again, Fairfield had ripped off a 10-0 run and put the game away.

“You can’t rush shots, you got to take your time and do what got you there,” Baggett said. “Play with a sense of urgency, but I think too many guys are trying to do too much. Instead of doing it as a team, we try and do it as individuals. The next thing you know, we miss those four in a row and we get back down by 10 again.”

The Stags came into the series shooting 29.2% on 3-pointers, but connected on 10-of-22 (45.5%) in Saturday’s night’s game. Jake Wojcik (13 points), Taj Benning (10 points) and Zach Crisler (11 points) all made more than one 3.

Rider, meanwhile, was just 4-for-25 in the two games combined. It got to the free throw line 22 times (making 19) on Friday night to offset the cold long-range shooting, but made only six trips (making five) on Saturday night.

“Sometimes we were over-helping, but when you play poor defense, everybody starts to get some momentum and feel good about things,” Baggett said. “If you leave them open, they can still make a 3 here and there if you leave them open. Teams are shooting 38% behind the 3-point line on us, we have to get better at that. We got to get better on defense as a whole.”

Dontrell McQuarter paced the Broncs with 12 points and Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson had 10. Rider got off to a 13-2 start, but was outscored, 35-18, the remainder of the first half and trailed from the 3:09 mark of the first half until the finish.