Rider drops to 1-4 in MAAC
LAWRENCEVILLE » Dimencio Vaughn has played in enough Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference contests to know how unpredictable the league can be on a game-to-game basis, so he isn’t going to panic even though Rider remains in a season-long rut that has mostly been its own doing.
What he does know is the Broncs have to play harder for a consistent 40 minutes if they are going to pull themselves out this hole.
A 58-51 loss to Saint Peter’s on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium in which Rider never led was more or less the first 15 games of the season wrapped into a 40-minute package.
The Broncs (5-10, 1-4) played hard for 20 minutes — they cut a 14-point halftime deficit to three with more than enough time remaining to come back and win — but ultimately couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch, while the opponent did just enough to leave them wondering how another winnable game ended up in a loss.
“We got to get that anxiety of losing out of certain guys,” Vaughn said. “That takes over people’s mindsets and once you are fearing losing it becomes a problem. Once we get that anxiety out, nothing else can stop us.”
Vaughn was tough enough in his 36 minutes. He recorded his fourth straight double-double in MAAC action with 16 points and 10 rebounds. When he swiped his fifth steal in the second half — the 189th of his career — he passed Ryan Thompson and Stevie Jordan to become the program’s all-time leader.
“Forget about the record, as long as it helps the school record — like actual winning,” Vaughn said. “I’m blessed, but honestly, it’s not really helping us, so whatever I got to do to make it better. Go into the lab with coaches (and) do it right with my teammates.”
For the most part, Vaughn has done the things in his return season that endeared him to Rider fans — and sometimes frustrated his coaches: see six turnovers — but the Broncs still need more not just from him but everybody.
The starting backcourt of Dwight Murray Jr. and Allen
Powell shot a combined 4-for-20, while Powell — 17 points in Friday night’s overtime loss to Quinnipiac — was held without a point, Mervin James fouled out for the seventh time in 15 games, the team had 19 turnovers and shot 2-for-11 from beyond the arc.
It simply isn’t a winning formula.
“I still think it’s a process that is continuing,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “We got to keep getting better and learn from the mistakes. We are watching them (on film). … All we can do is keep coaching them up and get them better in practice.”
SPU (5-6, 3-1) closed out the first half on a 13-2 run to go up by double digits, although Rider quickly sliced that in half by scoring the first seven points of the second half. The score was stuck on 38-33 for what seemed like an eternity until Ajiri OgemunoJohnson’s layup pulled the Broncs within three at the 12:48 mark, but that was as close they got.
The Peacocks got key baskets from KC Ndefo, Fousseyni Drame and Matthew Lee on three consecutive offensive trips in the last three minutes to prevent Rider from getting the crucial stops it needed.
“We had some shots that weren’t the shots I was looking for,” Baggett said. “I won’t say they were bad shots, but we needed to come down and take our time. We had to defend them for most of the possession and then we come down and take a quick shot. That benefits them and doesn’t help us.”
The Broncs now face a three-game road trip — a make-up game at Quinnipiac on Wednesday followed by the Buffalo trip this coming weekend — and as daunting as that may look on paper, Vaughn knows things can turn quickly in the wacky MAAC.
“Just prepare for the next game,” Vaughn said. “Be ready to be criticized, take criticism and own it. You’re not perfect, but if you want to get better, you got to want it. You got to want to be better. You can’t just have somebody try and make you better, you got to want to be better.”
NOTES » Vaughn’s 16 points give him 1,438 in his career and moved him past Daniel Stewart (1,436) into 15th alltime. Next on the list is Stevie Jordan, his former teammate, who finished with 1,444. …Murray finished with 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting, and limped out of the game with 33 seconds left after he crashed into the table beneath the basket. … Doug Edert was the only SPU player to score in double figures with 12 points, four of which came at the free throw line in the final 29.8 seconds to put the game away. … Former Trenton Catholic Academy standout Latrell Reid started and had two points in 13 minutes for the Peacocks.