LAWRENCEVILLE — The plan for Rider men’s basketball coach Tommy Dempsey was always to ease Junior Fortunat in slowly.

It just took a little longer than expected to get him acclimated to the pace and physicality of the college game.

Fortunat, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward, missed the first nine games of the season while he waited for the NCAA to sort out his eligibility. Because he is an international player — from Quebec — sometimes the process of takes a little longer.

Dempsey played Fortunat 18 and 22 minutes, respectively, in his first two games but pulled back the reigns in the next seven. He averaged just more than seven minutes per game during that stretch.
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LAWRENCEVILLE — The birthday gift Rider men’s basketball forward Danny Stewart wants most is an upset win over Iona.

Stewart turns 20 Friday, the same night the Broncs travel to New Rochelle, N.Y., to face the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference favorite Gaels in a nationally televised game.

Coming in, all the talk is about Iona.

“From the beginning of the year, everybody has been counted out and all the talk is about Iona,” Stewart said. “It’s kind of a challenge for us. We have to come out and handle our business.”
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