Rider guard Stevie Jordan. (John Blaine Photo)

Stevie Jordan laughed when asked how he ended up needing five stitches around his lip during last Thursday's MAAC opener against Fairfield.

No he didn't hit the camera like one of the officials told coach Kevin Baggett. And no he didn't smash into a Fairfield players knee like the video replay seemed to suggest.

"I hit my own knee," the freshman point guard said with a smile.

Jordan spent the majority of that game Thursday night in the training room getting stitched up and fitted for a protective mask. The only problem was he couldn't see out of the mask and ended up last just 1:40 after convincing both the training staff and Baggett he was OK to continue.

After three days of practice, Jordan decided he wasn't going to wear the mask. He was pretty demonstrative about that.

"I could not see out of that mask," he said. "I wasn’t going to the mask again"

The stitches certainly didn't hinder his performance in Monday night's 71-69 victory over Siena. He finished with seven points and nine assists against just four turnovers.

"You just got to play," Jordan said. "You can’t worry about it because if I worry about it, I’ll probably get hit there again. Just got to keep playing."

Baggett continues to be impressed with the poise his young point guard shows, even if he needed to protect the ball better in the last minute when he was pick-pocketed in the final minute trying to snake through defenders.

"Obviously, my man here, a freshman, just needs to close the game out a little better," Baggett said, before adding, "other than that, nine assists, four turnovers, I’ll take that all day long"

"This was a big game," Jordan said. "They were (picked) second in the league and we were seventh. We just wanted to prove a point that we can play with the best teams."

As for how he'll avoid any more stitches? That's still to be determined, but Jordan said he's not considering wearing a mouthguard.

At least for now.

"He’s a freshman," Baggett joked. "He’s got to learn the hard way."

Note: Baggett said senior forward Kahlil Thomas is playing through a slight hip flexor/groin injury. Thomas picked up two fouls in the first half and finished with five points and 11 rebounds in 27 minutes.