LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The Norfolk State men's basketball team overcame an 18-point first half deficit to make it a contest in the second, but Rider was able to come away with the victory on Wednesday night in a non-conference game at Alumni Gymnasium, 81-71.
The Spartans made it interesting when it looked like the Broncs would pull away. Rider led by 18 with only a few minutes left in the first half, but NSU went on an extended run between both halves to take the lead.
The second period was very much a back-and-forth affair with 10 lead changes. The Spartans led one last time at the 7:46 mark, and they were still tied with the Broncs with just under five minutes to go. Rider, however, closed the game on a 12-2 run for the final margin.
NSU (4-7) fell despite holding the Broncs to just 32 percent shooting in the second half. Normally a sharp-shooting 3-point team, Rider (3-3) struggled to get going in the second half after making 5-of-13 from 3-point range and 53 percent overall in the first 20 minutes of play.
Unfortunately for NSU, one player for Rider did catch fire. Jordan Allen made 4-of-9 from deep and 7-of-12 overall for a 20-point night, including 16 points in the second half. He made all four of the team's treys after halftime. Each of his first three gave the Broncs the lead, and his last one put them up by four.
The Spartans fell despite shooting better in all three phases. Junior
Nic Thomas led the way with 16 points, making 8-of-9 from the free throw line. The Spartans shot 14-of-16 in the first half from the charity stripe but had just three attempts in the second.
Along with Thomas, seniors
Derrik Jamerson Jr. (14 points, 4-of-9 3-point shooting) and
Alex Long (13 points, 6-of-7 shooting) also reached double figures.
Down 41-23 with less than four minutes to go in the first half, the Spartans used a 17-5 run to close the gap to six going into the locker room. It became a 26-5 run after NSU made the first nine points of the second half too.
Three different players made treys late in the first half, and Jamerson had a pair early in the second as the Spartans went ahead 49-46. Long had a pair of buckets to keep them going, and the lead was four at 57-53 after sophomore
Kyonze Chavis made 2-of-3 from the line at the 12:51 mark.
As the pace of the game got stuck in mud, senior
Jordan Butler twice put the Spartans ahead. The second of those buckets, with 7:46 left, made it 65-64. After Allen's trey pushed the Rider lead to four, junior
Steven Whitley and Thomas each had baskets of their own to tie the game one last time at 69-69.
But in the last four and a half minutes of the game, the Spartans scored just two points on a Butler shot in the paint with 39.0 left.
They finished the game 24-of-53 from the floor (45 percent), while Rider shot 43 percent overall. The Spartans were hurt by 23 turnovers for the game, which turned into a 17-5 advantage in points off turnovers for the Broncs. They also used 16 offensive rebounds to outscore NSU 18-9 in second-chance points.
The Broncs' 3-point prowess was on display early, as they knocked down a trio of treys in the first four and a half minutes. The last of those forced NSU to call timeout down 16-6. The lead later reached 15 before the Spartans scored six of the game's next eight points.
Down 27-16 at that point with 10:52, the Spartans got to within 12 on Long's 3-point play a few minutes later. Rider went on to surge ahead by 18 at the 3:55 mark before NSU made its big run.
The Broncs shot slightly better in the second half from the free throw line but still finished just 14-of-28 overall. NSU made 16-of-19 for the game, better than 84 percent.
Stevie Jordan added 18 points for Rider, 15 in the first half before foul trouble limited his time. He was one of five players in double figures for the Broncs, including Dimencio Vaughn (13 points, six rebounds, five steals), Anthony Durham (11 points) and Ajiri Ogumuno-Johnson (10 points, seven rebounds, four blocks).
Butler had eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, and senior
Armani Branch also added eight points.
The Spartans next travel to the Windy City to take on Loyola Chicago on Sunday at 4 p.m.
