Broncs losers of six straight after 79-66 loss to Penn

By Benjamin Shinault

The City of Brotherly Love did not show any love to Rider men’s basketball on Dec. 20 when the Penn Quakers beat the Broncs 79-66. Rider has now lost six straight games and have lost seven of their last eight.

The Broncs’ shooting struggles have hounded them during this six game losing streak, as Rider only shot 39% from the field against Penn and only connected on eight of their 21 three-point attempts. 

The Quakers and the Broncs tipped off at 6 p.m. in Philadelphia and Penn got right to work with a 3-pointer within the first 20 seconds of the game. The Broncs answered back in their opening possession with a lay-in from graduate forward Tariq Ingraham. 

The Quakers continued to attack the paint and Rider couldn’t do much to stop them with Penn jumping out to a 9-4 after layups on three straight possessions. By the end of the matchup, the Quakers scored 40 points in the paint.

The Broncs crawled out of the early 9-4 deficit and closed the gap to 12-10 off a jumper from junior guard Zion Cruz, who led Rider in scoring with a season-high 16 points. 

Rider brought it within one point after a 3-pointer from graduate student guard T.J. Weeks Jr., but Penn continued to lay the hammer down, not allowing the Broncs to hold a lead for the entire game.

“We make mistakes on offense and defense,” Head Coach Kevin Baggett said to Rider Athletics. “Too many breakdowns, things that we work on in practice, things we watch on film, things we talk about all the time. It’s not registering with this team yet. It’s not ingrained in them yet.”

With the first half dwindling down, Penn gained some real separation as they went on a 12-2 run, and their lead grew to 12 by the time both teams headed into the locker rooms.

By the end of the first half, the Quakers put up 41 points on the Broncs, the most since Rider also allowed UCLA to score 41 in the first half on Nov. 4.

Penn’s dominance over Rider continued into the second half as the Penn lead swelled to 19 with 10 minutes to go. 

Rider climbed back a bit and closed the gap to eight, making the score 70-62 off a jumper from Weeks. 

With Rider down by eight, Penn  separated itself again with scores on three straight possessions, going up 14. 

Penn on the other hand had its way with the Broncs in all facets of the game.

 Penn outshot the Broncs all over the court, grabbed more rebounds and had better production from the bench and blew the Broncs out of the water when it came to scoring down low.

The Broncs will have to put this game behind them quickly as they head south to face North Carolina State on Dec. 22. 

Tipoff is at 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.