Rider falls on the road, wins in final seconds at home

By Samantha Clark

Rider men’s basketball rounded out their road stretch on Jan. 30 when they faced the Manhattan University Jaspers, falling 95-90, but showed an impressive bounce back after returning home on Feb. 1, prevailing 81-78 over the Saint Peter’s University Peacocks, who are tied for the second-best team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. 

The Broncs in the Bronx

The final matchup in January against the Jaspers opened with a driving layup from senior guard Zion Cruz, followed by another from senior forward Daniel Helterhoff for the early lead.

Sophomore guard Flash Burton grabbed the offensive rebound off of his own missed shot, driving in the post to tie the matchup at 6-6. Junior guard Caleb Smith did the same a minute later, then sank a turnaround jumpshot.

Sophomore forward Davis Bynum found Smith just beyond the arc, who knocked down a 3-pointer to close the gap to one. Junior guard Antwan Wilson followed with a 3-pointer of his own, tying the game up at 23-23.

Showing continued effort in the paint, Helterhoff put another up and in to regain the lead for the first time since the first two minutes of the half. Cruz and Burton continued to extend the lead with more 3-pointers, marking the Broncs’ third and fourth in the half.

Wilson sent the ball up for another 3-pointer, sending the Broncs into halftime down by just two, 45-43.

The Broncs went scoreless for the opening two minutes of the second half, until Cruz splashed a jump shot in the paint. 

Smith then floated up with a deep two, Fuller smacked down a two-handed dunk and Cruz attacked the zone for a layup to make it a one-point game. With another dunk, Wilson tied the matchup at 65-65 halfway through the second.

Leading the Broncs in scoring, Cruz finished with a layup to pick up his 16th points. After a 6-0 run from the Jaspers, he splashed a long 3-pointer to push him to lead all scorers and close the gap to six points.

Battling for the rebound, Fuller was sent to the line, and Smith found himself in the same spot less than a minute later, picking up four to put the Broncs down 95-90 after a hard fought battle. 

Burton had himself a double-double performance with 15 points and 11 assists. Smith scored his most as a Bronc with 18 points.

A buzzer-beater battle

The Broncs opened their first matchup of February with a two-minute drought, setting the Peacocks off on a 5-0 run, until Bynum hit two at the free throw line. Then, for the first field goal of the night, freshman guard AB Coulibaly splashed a corner 3-pointer.

About two minutes later, Burton grabbed the defensive rebound to find Coulibaly once again in the corner for the triple to close the Peacocks’ early lead to just four points.

To beat the shot clock, Cruz followed in his teammates’ footsteps, taking a shot just beyond the arc and doing the same 45 seconds later, picking up six more for the Broncs.

After back-to-back dunks from Fuller, freshman guard Jamir McNeil threw up an impressive 3/4-court shot from past the logo to beat the 0.6 seconds left in the half, setting the Broncs back by just one heading into the break, 40-39.

“Jamir missed a layup, and he was a little down on himself, and then he goes and instead of worrying about missing the layup, he hits that three,” Head Coach Kevin Baggett said.

A defensive rebound from Fuller allowed for Bynum to pick up Rider’s first points of the second, fighting through Peacocks for the jumpshot, and doing the same less than a minute later.

After foul shots from Fuller and a driving layup from Burton, the Broncs went scoreless for over four minutes, until Coulibaly hit one of his own from the line. Burton then hit two jumpshots just 35 seconds apart to pick up a pair of Rider’s first field goals.

With a field goal and free throw, Helterhoff picked up three points for the Broncs to snap the gap to a single-digit deficit.

Sophomore forward Cole McCabe picked up the defensive rebound, opening the door for a 3-pointer from Burton. Two shots at the line from Cruz, a layup from Smith and a floataway jumpshot from McCabe followed, the gap now sitting at five points with three minutes remaining.

Grabbing the defensive rebound off the Peacocks’ missed foul shot, McNeil found Cruz, who put up a 3-pointer to push it to a one possession game, 75-73.

Burton found himself at the line once again, and after making both free throw shots, it was a tie game in the final two minutes. With less than two seconds on the clock, Burton launched a 3-pointer to now lead all scorers with 25 points and bring the Broncs a home win, 81-78. 

“We still got to finish out the year. It’s a little ‘cake and ice cream’ for right now,” Burton said.

The Broncs look to continue this momentum on Feb. 5 to face the Marist University Red Foxes and later on Feb. 7 to host the Merrimack College Warriors. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+ at 7 p.m.