CNBNews

November 10, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Men’s College Basketball

MURRAY, KY—The Broncs lost on a last second foul shot to Murray State in the 2007-08 season opener Friday night in the Regional Special Events Center on the Murray State campus.  “Murray State is very good and they didn’t make anything easy for us,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We hung and we hung and gave ourselves a chance to win it. We didn’t play poorly.”

Junior guard Kevin Thomas made one of two foul shots with 0.2 seconds left to give Murray State (1-0) the victory. Thomas finished with 14 points.

“I was disappointed in that the game deserved overtime, but it isn’t the right thing to comment on that call at the end,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “We did every thing we could do to put it into overtime. Our kids fought like crazy.”

Junior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham) scored a career-high 21 points for Rider (0-1). Trailing 65-63, Mansell went to the foul line with 3.5 seconds left and made both free throws to tie the score at 65-65.

“We obviously didn’t have our ‘A’ game but we didn’t go away,” Dempsey said. “We found a way to get that thing tied, and I think if it had gone overtime we could have found a way to win it. We had all the momentum going.”

As expected, the Broncs were led by Thompson. Surprisingly, it was not preseason All-American and preseason MAAC Player of the Year Jason Thompson, but his little brother Ryan. Sophomore Ryan Thompson ((Mt. Laurel/Lenape) scored a career-high 23 points, after scoring 12 of Rider’s first 19 points of the game, and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Broncs.

Rider senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) was held to 13 points and six rebounds.

Trailing 55-47, Rider got two free throws from Ryan Thompson and two three-pointers by Mansell to tie the score at 57-57 with three minutes left.  Mansell made a three-point field goal with 3:00 remaining to tie the score at 57-57, and made another three to tie the score at 60 with 2:00 left. Mansell led the MAAC in three-point field goals last season.

“Murray State was very good defensively and weren’t giving Harris any open looks,” Dempsey said.  “I told Harris when you are one of the top 3-point shooters in the country you aren’t going to get many good looks. He took some tough contested threes and was able to knock them down. He played really clutch.”

Junior Lamar Johnson’s (Scranton, PA/Scranton) only basket of the game, a three-pointer, cut the lead to 64-63 with 22 seconds left.

“We grinded it out with a good team and had a chance to win,” Dempsey said. “I knew this games was one of the tougher games on our schedule and it has bothered me for months.”

Murray State jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first 11 minutes, seven points by Tony Easley, as Rider made just three of its first 10 shots from the field. Easley finished with 11 points.

Holding a 30-28 lead, the Racers out-scored Rider 9-2 to take a 39-30 lead with 15 minutes left to play.

The Racers have now won their last 18 home openers and are 10-0 in RSEC season openers. Danero Thomas led the Racers with 15 points.

The Broncs lost the 2006-07 opener at NJIT, and both the 2004-05 and 20005-06 openers to Bucknell. Rider won the 2003 season opener over Brown and the 2002 opener against Monmouth.

Murray State competes in the Ohio Valley Conference, and like Rider, is picked to finish fourth this season.  Austin Peay is the preseason OVC favorite and defending OVC champion.

With an enrollment of 10,350, Murray State plays in the ten-year old Regional Special Events Center (8,600), where they average close to 4,000 fans per game.

Murray State and Rider met for the first time last season as part of the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBuster series.

The Racers have won 20 OVC Championships, including 13 of the last 20, and their streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons is the fifth best active mark in Division I.

Murray State has been to the NCAA tournament 13 times, including five times in the last 10 years. Murray State finished in fourth place last year.

The Broncs host the University of Delaware on Saturday, November 17 in the home opener. “Now we get a chance to come home and hopefully we’ll have a great crowd,” Dempsey said. “We’ll be ready to play.”

-RU-