Broncs drop two, officially eliminated from MAAC contention

By Samantha Clark

The Broncs hosted the Mount Saint Mary’s University Mountaineers, falling 65-55 after a close first half, and later lost on the road, 86-75, to the Sacred Heart University Pioneers, officially becoming ineligible to compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament for the first time in program history.

‘We’re right there competing’

Tipoff against the Mountaineers on Feb. 13 began with a layup from sophomore guard Flash Burton after a minute and a half of unsuccessful play from both teams.

A steal from sophomore forward Cole McCabe allowed for a fastbreak layup from senior guard Zion Cruz, followed by a jumpshot a minute later.

The Broncs then went scoreless for three minutes, giving up five points on the other end of the court and allowing the Mountaineers to take the lead early in the first. 

After multiple free throws from Burton and senior forward Daniel Helterhoff, the Broncs’ first field goal after seven minutes was another jumpshot from Cruz, setting the Broncs back by just three points. 

“We’ll just keep competing, keep coming to practice, keep defending and try to always stay positive,” Cruz said.

Sophomore forward Davis Bynum hit two layups in a minute, quickly picking up four of his seven points  of the night.

Continuing to fight on all ends of the court, Cruz splashed another layup and put up a 3-pointer to head into halftime trailing 28-21.

Leading into the second, Burton hit the first field goal for the Broncs with a layup and quickly followed with a jumpshot in the paint, Cruz doing the same just 30 seconds later.

After three minutes of unsuccessful play, a layup from junior guard Caleb Smith snapped the drought. Freshman guard Jamir McNeil followed with a jumpshot, picking up his first field goal since the home win against Saint Peter’s University on Feb. 1.

Helterhoff drove through the post for the and-1 layup, but after a jumpshot from Cruz, the Broncs did not find a successful field goal for the next                  seven minutes.

Free throws from Bynum, McNeil and Cruz slowly added points until Smith, once again, broke the scoreless streak with a fastbreak jumpshot.

Cruz cashed in a 3-pointer, and after two layups from senior forward Shemani Fuller, the Broncs were down at the final buzzer, 65-55.

“We did some good things,” Head Coach Kevin Baggett said, “We need to finish some of those layups, but we’re right there competing.”

Officially out

The Broncs went on the road to face Sacred Heart on Feb. 15, which kicked off almost immediately with a jumpshot from Burton. 

Fuller quickly followed by tipping in his own missed shot, giving the Broncs the lead early into the half.

A jumpshot from Bynum was the last successful shot for the Broncs for the next two minutes, until McCabe laid one up and in. 

Rider then continued on another four minute drought, which was broken by a pair of free throws from Smith. For the first field goal in six minutes, Burton splashed a layup, Cruz following with the same. 

Cruz and junior guard Antwan Wilson cashed in a pair of jumpshots in under a minute to cut the deficit to less than 20 points. Bynum and Burton did the same to set the Broncs back 49-30 heading into the break.

Rider opened second half play with layups from Bynum, Cruz and Smith in the first three minutes, but struggled to get one up for the following three minutes. 

Burton and Cruz snapped the streak with three quick baskets to close the gap to 15 points. 

Driving through the lane, McCabe laced a jumpshot in the paint, followed by another fastbreak layup from Cruz, contributing to his career high of 22 points, reaching that mark for the fourth time this season.

Picking up six points in less than a minute, Burton hit back-to-back 3-pointers, but the Broncs continued scoreless for another two minutes. 

A steal from Burton sparked an 11-1 run over four minutes with a layup from Helterhoff and shots beyond the arc from Cruz, Burton and freshman guard AB Coulibaly. 

However, Rider faced another three minute drought, allowing a 10-0 run from the Pioneers. Burton splashed another 3-pointer to break the spell, and a layup from Cruz in the final two seconds of play rounded out the matchup with the Broncs                      down, 86-75.

Despite their inability to compete in the MAAC tournament, the Broncs will continue to keep their heads up when they return home for the final times this season to host the Canisius University Golden Griffins on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. and the Niagara University Purple Eagles on Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.