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Men's College Basketball: Rider University 61, Rutgers University 57



PISCATAWAY--During Revolutionary times, there was the Battle of Trenton, the Battle of Princeton and the Battle of Monmouth. At the Louis Brown Athletic Center Friday night, the Division I men’s basketball Battle of New Jersey took place, with Rider upsetting host Rutgers.

“I’m very proud of our kids,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “Points were hard to come by but our defense carried us. We have mental toughness, and we don’t win this game tonight without great team chemistry.”

Sophomore Ryan Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) compiled 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the Broncs to victory. “Ryan and Harris were super tonight,” Dempsey said. “There was a stretch in the first half when Ryan really put on a show and showed he was the best player on the court at that time.”

Junior Harris Mansell (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham) made a left-handed lay up with 38 seconds left to give Rider (8-4) a 59-57 lead. Mansell finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. “We have a resilient group,” Dempsey said. “We showed a lot of heart, a lot of character.”

“I wanted the ball in my hands,” Mansell said, “even though it seemed every one of my shots was getting blocked tonight. I saw the lane open up and I just wanted to get it up quickly before it got blocked.”

The victory was Rider’s second over a major conference this year, having defeated Penn State on November 23. “We’ve been working hard on our defense, fighting for respect, and we’ve been able to take advantage of the opportunities we had this year to earn some respect for our program,” Mansell said.

Trailing 55-45, Rutgers (7-5) out-scored Rider 12-2, seven points by Anthony Farmer, to tie the score at 57-57 with 2:00 remaining.  “I told the team that with the score tied, don’t worry about the offensive end,” Dempsey said, “that if they don’t score we can’t lose. As it turned out we didn’t let them score.”

Rider led 48-45 before going on a 7-0 run, four points by Harris Mansell and three by freshman Patrick Mansell (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham), to take a 55-45 lead. Patrick Mansell finished with six points off the bench, making a pair of three-pointers.

Senior Jason Thompson (Mt. Laurel/Lenape) played just 12 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble and finished with a season-low 12 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes of action. “It wasn’t one of Jason’s better games,” Dempsey said, “but guys stepped up all over the place. In other games this year when Jason struggled, we struggled, but tonight everybody picked him up.”

“I struggled tonight with foul trouble but my teammates really stepped up,” Jason Thompson said.  “Harris made some big shots. That gives me a lot of confidence in my play, knowing that if I do get in trouble the other guys are going to pick up the slack.”

“I think our big guys did a great job on Jason,” said Rutgers head coach Fred Hill. “I don’t think the people in attendance here tonight got an appreciation of how good Jason really is because of what our guys were able to do. Jason is a legitimate first round draft pick.”

Rutgers led 39-38 before Rider went on an 8-2 run, all eight points scored by the Thompson brothers, to take a 46-41 lead with 10:30 left to play. That was the ninth and final lead change of the game.

Trailing 27-19, Rider scored the final seven points of the first half, five points by Harris Mansell, to cut the lead to 27-26 at the half.

Freshman Matt Griffin (Philadelphia, PA/St. Joseph’s Prep) played a career-high 18 minutes and grabbed an offensive rebound to keep the play alive, setting up the game-winning shot by Mansell. “Matt is a competitor,” Dempsey said.  “He was taking care of the basketball (zero turnovers) and gave us energy. He’s a winner.”

Freshman Mike Ringgold (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) made one of two foul shots with 6.4 seconds left to seal the victory. “Mike is a warrior,” Dempsey said. “We’ve struggled from the foul line and Mike has really struggled from the line, but I knew he would find a way to get one of those two foul shots in.”

For Rutgers, Farmer finished with a team-high 18 points and JR Inman compiled 15 points and five rebounds.

Trailing 12-10, Rutgers went on a 14-4 run, 10 points by Inman, to take a 24-16 lead with 5:00 left in the first half.

Rider out-rebounded Rutgers 45-39 and held Rutgers to 36 percent shooting from the field. “We weren’t great tonight, but anytime you out-rebound a Big East team and hold a team to 36 percent in their building you have to be pleased,” Dempsey said. “That’s a pretty good sign.”

In the battle for New Jersey supremacy, Rutgers is now 2-2 against NJ Division I teams. Rider is 4-0 against NJ teams.

Thompson now has 1584 career points, six points shy of seventh. Thompson is already the Rider career leader in rebounds (894) and blocks (181).

Thompson came into the game ranked fifth in the nation in rebounding (11.6), 12th in blocks (3.3) and 29th in scoring (20.5).

In three games this year against the ACC, Big Ten and the Big 12, Thompson averaged 23 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.0 blocks.

This was the lucky 13th meeting between these two teams since the series began in 1947-48, and the first victory for Rider.

This was the first meeting since 2000 when Rutgers won 65-53. Rider took Rutgers into overtime twice in the 1980s.

Rider has now won three in a row and five out of the last six.

Rider is 7-3 in non-conference games this year with two remaining. Rider was 7-6 in non-conference games last year.

Rutgers is 6-2 at home, the only other loss coming to #1 North Carolina. Rider is 3-2 on the road this season and 1-2 on neutral court.

Senior Joel Green (Philadelphia, PA/Harriton) missed the game with a concussion.

The Broncs have now won three consecutive road games, at Canisius and at Monmouth, before traveling to Piscataway.

The Broncs travel to Philadelphia to take on Drexel December 27.

-RU-

Source Media Release

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