Rider dominated by top-seed Quinnipiac in quarterfinal exit

By Benjamin Shinault

Coming off an emotional finish in the opening round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament, Rider men’s basketball couldn’t quite surmount its next opponent on the bracket, the top-seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats, as the Broncs lost 78-64 for a quarterfinal exit for now three straight years.

Head Coach Kevin Baggett said, “I thought that we weren’t physical enough. I thought [Quinnipiac] did a good job guarding us and we just needed some of our better guys to show up but they struggled to show up today.”

In the first half, the rim in which the Bobcats scored on seemed to be as wide as the grand canyon, finishing with a shooting percentage of 50%. The Bobcats also splashed home four 3-pointers and layed it in off the glass 11 times, exposing Rider’s weak interior defense in the quarterfinal matchup.

Scoring started out slow for both teams as they each only managed two field goals within the first four minutes of the game.

For the first seven minutes of the first half, things were tight between the two teams with the biggest lead only being three. 

It was the Bobcats that finally got some real separation with an eight-point lead to make the score 24-16. Graduate student forward Tariq Ingraham, the hero of the opening round, closed the Quinnipiac gap to four with a layup. 

Ingraham followed up his double-double performance against Siena in the opening round with 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the field and eight rebounds.

Unfortunately for the Broncs, that four-point lead grew to a 16-point lead by the time the halftime buzzer sounded.

Rider’s bench in the first half put up zero points, adding stress to the battled and bruised starting Broncs. The Bobcats also had an edge on Rider when it came to rebounding the basketball. Quinnipiac scored nine second-chance points alone in the first half.

Under the red and blue lights of Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, Rider emerged from the locker room trailing 43-27.

The second half’s scoring was started by some free throws by the Bobcats to add on to their commanding second-half lead. Rider responded with free throws from graduate student guard T.J. Weeks Jr.

Weeks, in his final college game, was the team’s leading scorer with 23 points and also did some work on the glass, grabbing eight rebounds.

“I didn’t realize it until I was subbed out and I was like, ‘It’s over now,’ so it was kinda surreal. I don’t have words to describe it,” Weeks said.

The Broncs adjusted well in the second half against the Bobcats when it came to their defense, seeing the Bobcats struggle from beyond the arc, hitting just one of their eight shots from three. Quinnipiac’s overall shooting percentage took a significant dip as well. 

But unfortunately for Rider, the hole they dug in the first half was too deep to climb out of. 

The Broncs were able to close the gap to 14, but that came with 37 seconds left to go on the clock.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock and the buzzer echoed off the walls of the 96-year-old venue, Quinnipiac doomed Rider to another quarterfinal exit, as the Broncs fell 78-64.