Rider’s rally comes up short vs. Siena
LAWRENCEVILLE » When you sized up the Rider basketball team’s roster with 12 new players and nearly 90% of its scoring having either graduated or transferred out ahead of a chaotic season, there were going to be enviable growing pains.
That doesn’t make third consecutive loss and yet another second-day setback any less painful for a program that has been so accustomed to winning at home over the last three seasons.
That the Broncs nearly won it after being down by 17 to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference leader in the second half makes it all the more heartbreaking.
Dwight Murray Jr. missed an open shot to tie from straight on as time expired and Rider was denied an opportunity for an improbable come-from-behind victory, falling to Siena, 74-72, on Saturday night at Alumni
Gymnasium.
Rider (3-10, 3-7) has now dropped five straight home games, the same number it lost here over the past three years combined. The last time it lost this many straight in Lawrenceville was at the end of the 201314 season.
Much was made about the Broncs struggling in the second day of the back-to-backs the league has shifted to brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. They entered the series shooting nine percentage points lower in the second game and averaging five fewer points per game. Opponents, meanwhile, were striking the nets around seven percentage points higher overall and scoring nine more points per game.
Rider actually started well on Saturday before a disastrous final 12 minutes of the first half in which it only scored nine points and were helpless to stop the visitors from ripping off an extended 22-4 run during that span.
Siena, which was playing without league
Player of the Year Jalen Pickett for the second straight night due to a hamstring injury, stretched the lead to 17 early in the second half before the Broncs began to chip away.
Allen Powell scored the final three of his team-high 18 points on corner 3 with six seconds left to slice the deficit to one and after Nick Hopkins split a pair of free throws, Murray raced down and got up an open 2-point shot — his toe was on the line — that clanged long off the rim.
Murray ended up with 14 points, while Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson and Jeremiah Pope had 12 each. Pope had all 12 of his points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 35.8 seconds that pulled the Broncs within four (71-67).
Jordan King followed up his 21-point night with 22 for the Saints (6-0, 6-0), who remained perfect and matched the program record with their 16th consecutive win dating back to last season. Hopkins added 16 points and Colin Golson netted 14. Siena shot 9-for-19 on 3-pointers.
In other MAAC action, Manhattan (54, 4-4) swept its set over Niagara (5-7, 4-6); Monmouth (7-4, 7-3) did the same over Quinnipiac (3-5, 1-3); Fairfield (3-12, 3-7) held on to split with Marist (7-5, 5-5).