Ajiri’s career-best 19 points lead Rider over Niagara
Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson said he worked on three things ahead of the season: his inside scoring, rebounding and free throws.
Rider’s junior center showcased all three of them when his team needed it the most.
Og emuno - Joh n s on scored a career-high 19 points, including the goahead basket with 31.1 second remaining, and the Broncs went on to beat Niagara, 76-70, on Friday evening at the Taps Gallagher Center in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
“Coach does give me the liberty to shoot a jumper, but I try to get better on the inside because I never really scored a lot the last two years,” said Ogemuno-Johnson, who added seven rebounds and was 5-for-6 from the line. “This is the first time the team actually depends on me to score the ball. I need to take up the challenge and do even better.”
Og emuno - Joh n s on scored 15 of his points in the second half and seven of Rider’s final eight in the final 1:22. After he put Rider in front with 31.1 seconds to go, he calmly knocked in two free throws that iced the game with 10.1 seconds left following a defense stand.
“I’ve been at the line this year a lot more than I have my whole career,” Ogemuno-Johnson said. “I already have been in situations where I make free throws, so it was easy for me. I just need to relax and make me.”
Ogemuno-Johnson is now averaging 8.3 points
and 4.6 rebounds through 10 games. His 83 points this season have already surpassed the 74 he scored in all of last year. OgemunJohnson said he talked with former center Tyere Marshall, a 1,000-point scorer whom he backed up for the last two seasons, earlier this week.
“He just tried to show me some things I can do to be better,” Ogemuno-Johnson said. “I just took his advice on it and started showing out and playing to my strengths.”
Ogemuno-Johnson made seven of his 11 shots, dropping in a tough one hander as he came across the lane and even stepping out for a 16-footer that he fluently swished in. On the game’s biggest bucket, he slipped a screen and when both defenders went with Christian Ings, the sophomore wisely found his rolling big man, who finished with a finger
roll over a defender.
“He’s had segments here and there,” coach Kevin Baggett said, “but that was the most complete start to finish I’ve seen him have success like that.”
Dwight Murray Jr. finished with 14 points and Ings had 13 as Rider (3-7, 3-4) won the front end of the road back-to-back for the third time in as many tries. Murray connected on 4-of-6 from beyond the arc and the Broncs shot 47.1% (8-for-17) on 3-pointers. That came after they chucked up a 4-for-25 last weekend against Fairfield.
“We have really good shooters, and I’ve said that all the while,” Baggett said. “We just got to make them. We got to take the right ones. We’re starting to focus on what guys’ strengths are and where they are getting these shots in the offense.”
Marcus Hammond, who beat Rider last season at the buzzer in the game at the Taps Gallagher Center, led the Purple Eagles (4-5, 3-4) with 17 points. Hammond netted Niagara’s final five points — one of those shots a tough 3 from the right corner in which he appeared to twist his ankle
— but the Broncs held the home side without a point for the final 1:41.
Rider got a key stop in the final minute when Allen Powell forced Justin Roberts to mishandle the ball and it went out off the Purple Eagles guard’s knee for a turnover.
“Whatever we did today, we got to do it better
— whether it’s offense or defense or whatever it takes to win the second game,” Ogemuno-Johnson said. “I think the coaches realize how much stress it is for us to play back to back, so it’s kind of hard on all of us, but we got to do everything better.”
NOTES » Jeremiah Pope scored all eight of his points for Rider as it closed the first half on a 12-3 run to get back in the game. “We finally made some 3s to open up the court. When you’re not shooting 3s very well, teams are trying to pack it in on us,” Baggett said. ... The MAAC announced a host of changes to the schedule due to Covid-19 disruptions. Rider’s home set against Marist has moved from Jan. 29-30 to Jan. 30-31 and its home set against Canisius has shifted from Feb. 12-13 to Feb. 13-14. In total, nine of the league’s 11 teams are impacted by the latest round of changes. ... Rider and Niagara complete the two-game series on Saturday with a 4 p.m. tip off.