Rider’s James says win over Delaware will jumpstart season
NEWARK, DEL. >> Mervin James wasn’t going to let his team lose.
He and his Rider teammates have done enough of that during a difficult first month-and-a-half of the season.
So the fifth-year senior led by example.
“Every game,” James said, “I feel like that.”
On the road and against a top-100 opponent, James finished with 25 points and seven rebounds to lead the Broncs past Delaware, 8885, in overtime on Wednesday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Rider (3-8) won for the first time in eight tries away from home and handed the Blue Hens (8-4) their first home loss. Delaware entered the night on a three-game winning streak and with a top100 NET ranking after racking up six victories on their travels.
None of that mattered to the Broncs as they shot 54.2% from the floor, made 50% of their 3-pointers (7-of-14) and got key stops late in regulation and overtime.
Allen Powell sliced through the defense for the go-ahead layup with 42 seconds left in overtime after James got his fourth block — Rider had 10 in the game for the first time since Feb. 14, 2016 against Niagara — and then sank two clutch free throws with 4.2 seconds after another stop.
“I got the rebound and Merv said go, so I went,” Powell said. “That’s just the trust from my teammates that they got in me, so I went out there and made the layup.”
Powell scored 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting and Tariq Ingraham had a career-best 16 before fouling out in the extra period.
For Powell, it was redemption after a low moment earlier this month when he missed what would have been a go-ahead layup at Siena.
“He wants those shots,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “He was turning them down when he didn’t have the confidence. We know what he’s capable of doing. It’s good to see him making shots.”
James and Jyáre Davis seemed to have their own personal duel going on for most of the second half. Delaware’s senior forward scored a game-high 28 points and nearly fouled out all of Rider’s forwards on his own (he bulled his way to the rim and made 11-of-12 free throws). James managed to navigate the last 6:11 of regulation and overtime with four fouls and
“I wanted to come in here and get this one,” said James, who got called for a controversial offensive foul during last season’s meeting that led to the Blue Hens winning the game on a late tip-in. “We played the match ups right to where we did what we needed to do to get the W.”
James has scored 20 or more points four times this season and is backing up his selection as preseason MAAC Player of the Year by averaging 19.1 points and 7.1 rebounds on the season.
It’s perhaps flown a little bit under the radar because of the team’s tough start.
“He’s just a great player, great leader,” Powell said. “We know he’s going to go out there and play his hardest at all times. We always trust in him and he’s going to get it done.”
That’s the evolution of the player now that he’s in his third season at Rider.
“He’s living up to the billing,” Baggett said. “He’s carrying this team in every way. He’s leading, scoring, rebounding, defense. I can’t say enough about Mervin and his leadership. Our guys are following him and they believe in him. He will continue to do that whether we win or we lose. He’s committed to doing that.”
James also forecasted more wins in the immediate future.
“It’s about to take us where we need to go,” he said. “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, taking it one game at a time. … I’m just going to keep my team together. We’re going to believe in each other and rock
out for 40 minutes.”
On Wednesday night, it was 45 minutes.
“That’s what winning does,” Baggett said. “Guys were excited in the locker
room. Winning breeds that and when you lose it does the opposite. It’s good to see us get off the schneid and have a big win because those guys are really good.”