Shawn Valentine has a sprained MCL and will miss at least two week. Photo by John Blaine.

Rider coach Kevin Baggett confirmed that sophomore forward Shawn Valentine has a sprained right MCL, which he suffered in Sunday's win over Niagara, and will miss at least two weeks.

Valentine landed awkwardly during the first half and was writhing in pain. He had to be carried off the court.

"Everything ligament and muscle wise is still in place, so obviously, we're happy for that," Baggett said. "I'm sorry to have him down for a length of time, but I'm also happy he won't be out for the entire year. The way he was screaming out on the court, I just (thought) it was a torn ACL."


Valentine is averaging 3.2 points in 17.6 minutes per game.

Baggett called the 6-foot-7 forward from Sicklerville one of the team's glue guys that "doesn't show up in the stat sheet."

"He does all the intangibles," Baggett said. "He's a huge value for us. He's always unselfish and never really worried about scoring. ... It's a huge loss for us to have him down for any length of time."

Rider (8-7, 4-2) is coming off a split of the upstate New York trip and returns to Alumni Gymnasium Thursday against Saint Peter's (6-9, 2-4).