Rider in action tonight at MAAC tourney
Rider big man breaks out of slump just in time for MAAC tourney
LAWRENCEVILLE » Watch the first offensive play Rider runs and you’ll notice that the ball more often than not goes inside to Tyere Marshall. That’s certainly not by accident. When the 6-foot-9 sophomore center is on his game, the Broncs — already ranked in the top 30 nationally in scoring and top 15 in adjusted tempo — become even more difficult to stop.
“It opens up everything,” Marshall said. “We need balance, so it isn’t just the guards scoring. We got inside presence, so it opens up more open shots for the guards. The offense is great when everybody is scoring.”
Marshall netted 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in a sharp performance against Iona that clinched Rider the No. 1 seed at the MAAC Tournament. He made his first five shots from the field and finished a tidy 8-for-12.
It was a huge sigh of relief for a player who was a non-factor for the majority of the season’s final month — one in which he averaged 6.1 points and 5.4 rebounds over the 10 games prior to the regular-season finale.
“I was trying to figure out a way out of the slump,” Marshall said. “I was coming to the gym, working early before practice, early before games. Even the night before, I was watching film of the games we played before, trying to figure out a way to get out of this slump because I know that I have to bring more to help us win.”
Head coach Kevin Baggett said he felt Marshall was rushing and that would often result in tickytack fouls where he took himself out of the game. Part of the remedy was putting in extra work with assistant coach Dino Presley and watching film from earlier in the season when he displayed his soft lefty touch around the rim.
“He’s the same person, he just had to slow down and get his confidence back,” Baggett said. “I thought that’s what he did.”
All things considered, Marshall has made a leap in his second year in the program. He went from averaging four points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.9 minutes to 10 points and 6.6 caroms in 22.4 minutes. He also shot 50.8 percent from the floor and improved his free throw shooting from 36.4 percent to 53 percent.
Marshall actually posted 15 points and four rebounds in 12 minutes at the MAAC Tournament in a first-round win over Manhattan last season, and his teammates know that he can operate an even higher level than that.
“He’s a big piece for our team, so to keep him rolling and going we’re going to have to keep doing that in the tournament in order to win,” said his classmate and longtime friend Stevie Jordan. “He knows how good he is and I know how good he is. He just has to keep playing.”
Rider (22-8) faces ninth-seeded Saint Peter’s in the quarterfinals on Friday night. The Peacocks rallied to beat eight-seeded Monmouth on Nick Griffin’s 3-ponter at the buzzer.
The No. 1 seed hasn’t won the MAAC Tournament since 2010, a fact Rider’s players and coaches have become familiar with this week.
Not that it’s going to deter them. “We’re going to win the tournament for sure,” Jordan said. “We made it this far and won this many games, so it’s only best for us to win the tournament.”