Men’s College Basketball: Rider University 75, Drexel University 66

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Led by 21 points from junior Daniel Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti), the Rider University men’s basketball team won in come from behind fashion 75-66 on Saturday (Dec. 1) at Drexel University.

Stewart was seven for 10 from the field, pulled down seven rebounds and went seven for seven from the free throw line while dishing out three assists.

Trailing 46-37 with 13:27 left in the game, Rider (5-4) went on a 14-0 run, five points by junior Anthony Myles (Dover, Del./Poly-Tech) as the Broncs took a 51-46 lead with 8:57 remaining.  Myles had seven points, eight rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes.

Trailing 60-54, Drexel (2-5) tied the game at 60 with 4:01 remaining but the Broncs responded with an 11-2 run, four points by senior Jonathon Thompson (Orlando, Fla./Jones) to put the game away.  Thompson finished with 14 points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes.

Rider made nine of 11 foul shots down the stretch and the Broncs were 20-26 (77 percent) from the charity stripe.

Drexel was led by a career-high from Damion Lee who finished with 28 points.

Tied at 2-2, Drexel went on a 7-0 run as the Dragons opened up a 9-2 lead with 16:42 left in the first period.

A three-pointer by freshman Zedric Sadler (Detroit, Mich./Cody) brought Rider to within three (19-16) with 10:10 left in the opening half.  Sadler finished eight points in 22 minutes off the bench.

Stewart stole the ball and raced the length of the court, finishing with a dunk to tie the game at 23 with 7:41 left in the opening period

Drexel responded by scoring eight of the next 10 points and led 31-25 with 4:15 left in the first half.

Rider ended the opening half on a 5-0 run, with three Broncs scoring to cut the Dragon lead to 31-30 at intermission.

Tied at 37, Drexel went on a 9-0 run, seven points by Lee as the Dragons opened up a 46-37 lead with 13:27 left.  Lee scored 13 of Drexel’s last 15 points of the game.

Also for the Broncs, junior transfer and Philadelphia native Nurideen Lindsey (Overbrook) had 12 points, shooting four for six from the field with sophomore Junior Fortunat (Quebec, Canada) adding eight points in 20 minutes off the bench.

Rider shot 25-48 from the field (52 percent) and the Broncs were five for 10 from three-point range.

Rider forced 16 Dragon turnovers and the Broncs had eight steals in the game.

Rider and Drexel are former East Coast Conference rivals.  The teams have now met 57 times with Rider winning 27.  Coming into the game, the Dragons had defeated Rider four straight times including last season in the 6am ESPN Tip Off Marathon in Alumni Gymnasium.

Rider opens Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at Siena on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.