Rider back to .500 in MAAC, Iona next
LAWRENCEVILLE >> Mervin James and his Rider teammates didn’t care who was or wasn’t playing for Siena.
They had one thing on their mind.
Payback for an ugly loss in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener. That’s exactly what they got. James scored 22 points, his 11th game of 20 or more, and the Broncs pressed the shorthanded Saints into submission in a 91-50 beatdown on Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.
“We just had that bad taste in our mouth,” James said. “We gave them an opportunity to beat us at Siena. The whole thing this week was to dominate the matchup. Go at the big fella down there. You’re going to miss shots during the game, but you just got to move on and see the next one go in . ... Everything good right now. We’re in a good grace, good space and we’re just going to keep taking everything game by game.”
The biggest question was who was going to play for Siena. The Saints have rarely had a full compliment of players and while guard Sean Durugordon and his 23 points per game returned after missing last weekend with a hamstring injury, the visitors were still without key players Michael Eley (14.1 points) and Michael Evbagharu (5.8 points, 5.7 rebounds).
Those guys, to be honest, wouldn’t have mattered the way the Broncs (8-13, 5-5) lit up the scoreboard and clamped down on defense. They shot 12of-19 from 3 and harassed the Saints (3-18, 2-8) into 21 turnovers that they converted into 30 points.
“Let’s talk about the defense,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “That’s what we want turn our attention to. We can score the ball. We know that. Can we get stops every night when it matters the most? I’d rather talk about that end first.”
That defensive pressure starts with senior guard Corey McKeithan. Baggett said he challenged him to get into Siena point guard Zek Tekin, who had a career-best 23 points in the first meeting back in December. Tekin ended up with no points and three turnovers and didn’t play in the second half after Rider raced out to a 50-20 lead at halftime.
The Broncs had 15 steals, the most in a game since their 16 swipes against Niagara on Dec. 22, 2019.
“Just be aggressive,” McKeithan said. “I know I can play defense. I just know that I can’t give them too much. (Coach) always tells me. This is more just myself. I got to be aggressive on defense and that’s all it takes for me.”
McKeithan added 11 points as 13 different players scored. He was also 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Rider has, perhaps surprisingly, been one of the better 3-point shooting teams in the MAAC. It entered play shooting 35.4% from deep through nine league games (albeit on far fewer attempts than anybody else in the league) and improved that to 38.9% after this performance.
“I think we were more confident shooting,” McKeithan said. “The crowd was into it. Once we hit that first one. T.J. (Weeks Jr.) hit that first one and we’re like ‘we’re good.’ We like to hear the crowd.”
The Broncs treated that crowd — this was the first home game since students returned from winter break — to a third straight win for the first time all season and evened their league record after an 0-3 start. Places two through seven in the MAAC after Friday night’s results are separated by two games.
The situation, so to speak, is very fluid.
Count Rider in that mix. “We’re in a good space right now,” James said. “Everybody is trying to do the right thing. When you try to do the right thing every thing falls in line during the game. We are practicing hard, everybody is getting in the gym and putting up extra shots like they are supposed to do. In AC, you’re going to see the same team you saw tonight.”