Through all Rider’s ups and downs this season, Brandon Penn remained consistent.

The senior forward was rewarded Monday with a spot on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s Second Team, the league announced on a conference call.

“Brandon has really stepped up for us this year and I am happy the coaches in the league recognized him,” said Broncs coach Tommy Dempsey in a statement. “I was disappointed some of our other guys did not make an All-MAAC team but at this point we are just focused on team goals.”
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Who: Fairfield (17-12, 12-5) at Rider (12-18, 9-8)

When: Sunday, Alumni Gymnasium, 3:30 p.m., ESPN3.com, 107.7 FM The Bronc.

Last time out: Rider def., Loyola, 83-79; Fairfield lost to Iona, 77-72.

Background: Rider won’t have to sweat anything out Sunday afternoon.
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Live Blog of all the MAAC action going on tonight.

-- Welcome to the final regular-season edition of MAAC Monday. One weekend left and the standings couldn't be tighter. Four teams are separated by two games and positions 5-7 have just one game between them. Tiebreaker scenarios can get completed and we'll run through them after the jump. One game tonight as Fairfield visits Marist in the contest that was postponed after the off-campus fire that killed Marist students last month. The Stags can pull within one game of first-place Iona with a victory. Those two still face each other Friday. Now, let us get on with it:
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LAWRENCEVILLE – The faster the pace, the better Iona is.

For a half Wednesday night against Rider, Tim Cluess didn’t like the way his team played.

He called it a lack of energy.

The Gaels trailed the shorthanded Broncs, who were missing two starters, by five at intermission before hitting the gas with a 26-6 run to start the second half and eventually cruising to a 75-62 victory.

“We got the tempo going a little faster,” Cluess said. “The end of the first half and the beginning of the second half was almost a crawl. It was all too passive. But then they came out with some more, ‘oomph.’”

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LAWRENCEVILLE — All things considered — long bus ride, early morning arrivals, shorthanded team — a split from the Western New York trip would have been nice for the Rider men’s basketball team.

But a controversial defeat Saturday against Niagara leaves the Broncs with a bad taste in their mouth.

Rider should have been awarded a victory when Jon Thompson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the officials, who ruled the shot good on the floor, overturned that decision upon video review when they failed to recognize the clock started prematurely on the final play.

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference acknowledged officiating and timing mistakes at the end of the game in a statement Monday, suspending the three game officials from their next MAAC assignment and publicly reprimanding the game clock and video replay operators at Niagara.
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The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference released a statement Monday acknowledging officiating and timing mistakes at the end of the Rider men’s basketball team’s 84-82 loss to Niagara Saturday afternoon.

Replays clearly showed that Jon Thompson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer should have counted because the clock started prematurely. The officials, who originally called the shot good, overturned the decision following a video review.

All three officials —Rusty Cooper, Tony Crisp and Kenneth Clark — have been suspended from their next MAAC officiating assignment for failing to realize the clock started early on the final inbound pass, the league announced. There was also a public reprimand issued to the Game Clock Operator and Replay System Operator at Niagara University.
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-- Three league games to go -- four if you're Fairfield or Marist, who have a makeup game next Monday -- and the MAAC is in the balance. Four teams have a shot at the regular-season championship and the top seed in next month's league tournament in Springfield, Mass. Now that Fairfield has finally found its stride (two important wins over Manhattan and Loyola this week) the final two weeks of the regular season are nicely poised. Time to break it all down:
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Who: Rider (10-15, 7-6) at Canisius (4-19, 1-12)

When: Thursday, Koessler Athletic Center, 7 p.m., 107.7 FM The Bronc.

Last time out: Rider def. Niagara, 74-73; Canisius lost to Marist, 80-69.

Background: Tommy Dempsey doesn’t make a habit of looking at who is chasing his team in the standings.

Instead, he prefers to look up and see who his Broncs might catch.

“I know everyone wants to talk about the play-in game, but I don’t give it any thought,” the Rider coach said. “We’re thinking about climbing the standings. We’re not looking at what the people behind us are doing. I still look at what the people in front of us are doing. Those are the people we’re trying to catch.”
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-- Hope everybody enjoyed the Super Bowl. But now that the big game is over and done with, it's time to focus on the college basketball stretch drive. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference still looks like a three-team race -- Iona, Loyola and Manhattan are all within a game of each other -- for the regular-season title, although, Fairfield still lurks just behind in fourth. Time to go around the league:
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LAWRENCEVILLE — Brandon Penn didn’t need to be reminded about how many of his eight 3-point attempts found the nylon in the first 39 minutes and 59 seconds on Sunday afternoon.

“None,” he said.

But how many in the final second?

One.

That one — with 0.8 seconds remaining — was the game-winner in a wild contest in which Rider erased a 17-point second-half deficit to defeat Niagara, 74-73, at Alumni Gymnasium.

Antoine Mason gave the Purple Eagles a two-point lead when he drove to the basket and banked in a mid-range jumper with 6.6 seconds left.

Rider coach Tommy Dempsey elected not to call timeout and Jon Thompson raced up the floor and found an open Penn a few steps behind the 3-point line.
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Who: Niagara (9-15, 4-8) at Rider (9-15, 6-6)
 
When: Sunday, 1 p.m., Alumni Gymnasium, 107.7 FM The Bronc.
 
Last time out: Rider lost to Loyola, 63-46; Niagara lost to Fairfield, 77-69.
 
Background: Coming off their worst offensive performance of the season, the Broncs will be looking to put some distance between themselves and the bottom-four of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Rider shot 30.6 percent (15 of 49) from the field, including 2 of 18 on 3-pointers in the defeat Friday at Loyola. The 46 points were its lowest output since scoring 40 in a loss to Fairfield during the 2003-04 season.

The Broncs, though, caught a break Friday night when Siena lost to St. Peter’s for the second time this season. They come into Sunday’s contest still in fifth place, one game ahead of the Saints and two in front of Niagara and St. Peter’s.

The Purple Eagles have lost four in a row.

Joe Mihalich’s team does, however, feature two explosive scorers. Freshman Juan’ya Green averages 17.2 points per game and backcourt mate Antoine Mason, a redshirt freshman who is the son of former NBA All-Star Anthony Mason, chips in 15.4 per game.

Rider swept the two games a year ago and has won four in a row and six of the last eight in the series.
 
Projected starting lineups: Rider: G-Eddie Mitchell (Fr., 4.6 ppg), G-Jon Thompson (Jr., 7 ppg), F-Novar Gadson (Sr., 9.2 ppg), F-Brandon Penn (Sr., 12.4 ppg), F-Danny Stewart (So., 12.3 ppg).
Niagara: G-Juan’ya Green (Fr., 17.2 ppg), G-Antoine Mason (Fr., 15.4 ppg), G-Ameen Tanksley (Fr., 8.3 ppg), G-Malcolm Lemmons (So., 8.4 ppg), F-Scooter Gillette (Jr., 5 ppg).

The Rider men’s basketball team had its three-game winning streak halted Friday night in a 63-46 loss to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference co-leaders Loyola at Reitz Arena.

The Broncs fell to 9-15 overall and 6-6 in the MAAC but remained in sole possession of fifth place after Siena lost to St. Peter’s for the second time this season.

The Greyhounds (17-5, 10-2) kept pace with Iona and Manhattan to keep the three-way tie for first place in tact.

Rider, as its done on multiple occasions, dug an early hole that it couldn’t get out of. The Broncs shot 3 of 23 in the first half and turned the ball over 12 times en route to a season-low 12 points.

The 46 points were also a season-low.

Loyola, which grabbed control of the game with an 18-0 run early in the first half, led by 27 at halftime.

Rider went scoreless for 9 minutes, 11 seconds in the first half while the Greyhounds opened up their lead.

The Broncs tried to make a game of it in the second half, opening the period with a 15-1 run that got them as close as 13.  

Loyola didn’t register a field goal in the second half until Robert Olson made a jumper with 10:42 left.

But that got the Greyhound going as they quickly built the advantage back to 20.

Erik Etherly led Loyola with 15 points and Olson had 14.

Danny Stewart finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Rider before fouling out with seven minutes left.

The Broncs return to action Sunday afternoon when Niagara visits Alumni Gymnasium.

Who: Rider (9-14, 6-5) at Loyola (16-5, 9-2)

When: Friday, 7 p.m., Reitz Arena, ESPNU, 107.7 FM The Bronc.

Last time out: Rider def. Siena, 83-72; Loyola def. Canisius, 70-52.

Background: Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos called Rider the hottest team in the league.

While there are some that might disagree with that, the Broncs are playing much better ever since a poor start put them in catch-up mode.
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-- Happy Monday! The top three all held serve to remain tied at the league summit but that will change this week. Iona travels to Manhattan on Saturday trying to avenge a loss from a game in which it held a 17-point second half lead. Look out for BracketBusters, which are announced tonight at 6:30 on ESPNU. Expect both Iona and Loyola to find themselves in high-profile games. Now without further ado, around the MAAC we go:
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LAWRENCEVILLE — The last thing Rider men’s basketball coach Tommy Dempsey wrote on the board before his team took the court Sunday afternoon was its motto:

No sweeps.

Having already avoided a season sweep twice, the Broncs made it a third Sunday with an 83-72 victory over Siena at Alumni Gymnasium.

“Every time someone beats us we always talk about that.” Dempsey said. “Sweeps in the league really hurt you. You don’t want anyone to think they have a mental edge on you as you go into a tournament setting.”

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Who: Siena (10-10, 5-5) at Rider (8-14, 5-5)

When: Sunday, Alumni Gymnasium, 2 p.m., 107.7 FM The Bronc.

Last time out: Rider def. St. Peter’s, 90-55; Siena def. Marist, 66-55.

Background: Tommy Dempsey briefly sat his team down after Siena rallied to beat Iona last Monday and delivered a simple message.

“Keep pushing,” Dempsey told his team, “because you win this regular season championship and you win this conference championship on the floor.”
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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 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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Who: St. Peter’s (4-16, 3-6) at Rider (7-14, 4-5)

When: Thursday, Alumni Gymnasium, 7 p.m., ESPN3.com, 107.7 FM The Bronc.

Last time out: Rider def. Canisius, 89-65; St. Peter’s lost to Loyola, 65-54.

Background: At the halfway point of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schedule, the league is wide open.
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