Trentonian Photo/GREGG SLABODA. Notre Dame's Josh Williams could find a potential landing spot at Rider.

Rider coach Kevin Baggett may be picking up a recruit in his own backyard.

The Broncs have interest in Notre Dame High’s Josh Williams, and he could sign with the school, said his coach, Bob Turco, on Wednesday.

Williams has a few hurdles to clear if he wants to make the three-mile trip to Rider and might need a prep year, likely at St. Thomas More in Connecticut, Turco said, although the coach is hopeful that won’t be necessary.

Williams, who started at Trenton High before moving to Notre Dame, averaged 17.3 points per game as a senior for the Irish, scoring 20 or more 10 times.

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Rider basketball coach Kevin Baggett has added four players to next season’s roster, including two-time South Jersey Player of the Year Xavier Lundy.

Lundy, a 6-foot-6 forward out of Paulsboro High, won a pair of South Jersey Group I titles, helping the Red Raiders to a 57-4 record over the last two years.

He averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds in his senior season and 22 per game as a junior. For his career, Lundy finished with 2,135 points.

Joining Lundy is a trio of players from Florida — forward Khalil Thomas and guards Jimmie Taylor and Brandon Channer.

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Rider’s MyNeshia McKenzie was named to the women’s All-Met Second Team Friday by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association

McKenzie, a junior, finished fourth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in scoring, averaging 14.9 points per game and was second in rebounding, collecting 9.8 boards per contest

She became the first player in program history to earn All-MAAC First Team honors this season and is the first since Rider Hall of Famer Jessica Beck to earn All-Met recognition
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Nurideen Lindsey is withdrawing from school to pursue professional opportunities.

The Nurideen Lindsey experiment at Rider is over.

Coach Kevin Baggett confirmed Thursday night that the junior guard is withdrawing from school and will seek professional opportunities.

Big Apple Buckets first reported the news.

When reached by phone Thursday night, Baggett said he wasn’t blindsided by the news and knew it was something Lindsey, who played just the one season in Lawrenceville after transferring from St. John’s and being granted a hardship waiver, was considering before even joining Rider.

“It was always something we talked about,” said Baggett, adding that they came to the decision late last week while meeting during offseason workouts. “He was hoping he could piggy back a good year here into going overseas and making some money because he has a family in hardship.”

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Coach Kevin Baggett won 19 games in his debut season/ Photo by JOHN BLAINE

Season in Review

Final record: 19-15, 12-6 MAAC; second place. Lost in second round of CIT

Grading out the Broncs

Kevin Baggett, B+ — A solid debut season for the coach who spent 14 years as an assistant before getting his chance when Tommy Dempsey left for Binghamton. Baggett won 19 games, tying him with Clair Bee for second most victories in program history by a first-year coach. Only Robert Greenwood won more (20 in 1962-63). Baggett said from the beginning his team would defend and it certainly did that, allowing 63.3 point per game, which was down from 74.6 a year ago (that’s an 11.3 ppg difference and a big reason why Rider improved its win total by six games). A five-game win streak to finish the regular-season vaulted Rider to the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament with only a final-day victory by Niagara over St. Peter’s keeping Baggett from piloting the Broncs to a first-place finish.

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Anthony Myles matched a career high with 23 points against Hartford/ Photo by JOHN BLAINE

LAWRENCEVILLE — While it’s not the postseason tournament Rider had its eye on, coach Kevin Baggett and the Broncs are happy to still be playing.

Rider (19-14) advanced to the second round of the CollegeInsider.com tournament with a victory over Hartford Tuesday — the program’s first postseason win since 1957 — and visits East Carolina Saturday night with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.

The Pirates, out of Conference USA, are 19-12 and rallied to defeat Savannah State by one in the first round.

“Obviously, everyone is a little down on the fact that we didn’t get into the NCAA tournament,” said Baggett following Thursday afternoon’s practice. “We are in the postseason and we are embracing it."

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Anthony Myles netted 23 points and Rider won a postseason game for the first time since 1957, knocking off Hartford, 63-54, in a first round CollegeInsider.com tournament game Tuesday night.

The Broncs (19-14) will play in a second round game on Saturday, against an opponent yet to be
determined.

“It’s not the NCAA tournament, which is where I hope to get this program,” coach Kevin Baggett said on 107.7 The Bronc. “But if we’re playing in the postseason, I’m hoping to win. ... It’s a privilege to be in a postseason tournament. We needed to come out and play with a sense of urgency and understand that we want to win and keep enjoying each other.”
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