LAWRENCEVILLE — The sailing hasn’t always been smooth this season for Rider men’s basketball guard Jeff Jones.

There were high expectations placed on the senior’s shoulders. He was an All-League Third Team selection before even playing a game in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Then again, that’s what’s expected when you score over 500 points at an ACC school in the first three years of your career.

But a month in the season, one that began 1-10 for the Broncs, Jones found himself yanked from the starting lineup and being asked to provide a spark off the bench.

He’s done that in spurts, averaging 12.8 points per game, but not enough for a team that was picked to finish fourth in the league’s preseason poll.

It all came to a boil when he was suspended for the win over Canisius for a violation of team rules.

But Jones worked that issue out over the last few days of practice and had coach Tommy Dempsey predicting a big game from the team’s second leading scorer.

Jones delivered with a game-high 19 points to help Rider crush St. Peter’s, 90-55, Thursday night at Alumni Gymnasium and move into fifth place in the MAAC, a 1/2 game ahead of Niagara and Siena, who visits Lawrenceville Sunday.
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JERSEY CITY – Jeff Jones remembers his time at Monsignor Bonner High School in suburban Philadelphia well.

He remembers scoring 1,923 points over his career. He remembers becoming the all-time leading scorer in the Philadelphia Catholic League.

Now he knows that his scoring record at Monsignor Bonner will never be broken.

The school, along with its sister institution, Archbishop Prendergast will shut down at the end of the academic year. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced the closing of 45 elementary schools and four high schools Friday as part of sweeping budget cuts. Conwell-Egan Catholic will also shut down at the end of the year.

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JERSEY CITY – For the first time this season, the Rider men’s basketball team is on a winning streak.

The Broncs won their third in a row, all three in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, 72-58, Sunday afternoon over St. Peter’s at the Yanitelli Center.

Rider has now won five of its last six, improving to 6-11 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

Brandon Penn continued his impressive play with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Anthony Myles and Jeff Jones combined for 30 points off the bench to spark the Bronc attack in the second half.

“It’s never easy up here,” said coach Tommy Dempsey. “You always have to grind it out against them. When the game got tight, we had great composure.”
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