Sunday, Jan 4, 2015
The Broncs bring a four-game winning streak to Fairfield
by Rider Sports Information
The 小优视频 men鈥檚 basketball team brings its four-game winning streak to an ESPN3 audience Monday night, as the Broncs play a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Fairfield at 7 p.m.
Rider (8-6, 2-1 MAAC) has won six of its last seven games due to its balance and depth.
As far as balance, four Broncs average between 11.1 and 9.1 points per game.
As far as depth, Rider has eight players averaging double-digits in minutes played and six players average more than 20 minutes per game.
鈥淲e鈥檝e talked about that since before the season started, our depth,鈥 says Rider head coach Kevin Baggett. 鈥淥ur depth has really shown up recently.鈥
With two starters out of the line-up on Friday, sophomore forward Kahlil Thomas (Parkway, Fla./Blanche Ely) with a foot injury and senior center Matt Lopez (Erial, N.J./Washington Twp.) with an illness, the Broncs won a MAAC game at Marist 69-59 with 24 points from their bench, and 23 points (along with 10 rebounds) from a pair of spot starters, sophomore forward Xavier Lundy (Paulsboro, N.J./Paulsboro) and senior center Junior Fortunat (Montreal, Quebec/Roman Catholic).
Rider junior Zedric Sadler (Detroit, Mich./Cody) is an early favorite for the MAAC sixth man award. The 6-2 guard has 32 points in his last 47 minutes played and 21 steals in the last seven games.
Fairfield (4-9, 2-1 MAAC) began the season 2-0 in conference play with wins over Manhattan and at Quinnipiac, but the Stags have lost their last four games, including a 68-67 loss at home to Siena on Friday. In that game Fairfield led 66-63 before losing to the Saints.
Fairfield is led by junior forward Marcus Gilbert, who is averaging 14.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Gilbert had 17 points against Siena, making seven of 11 foul shots.
The Broncs won the last meeting with Fairfield 71-62, here in Bridgeport Feb. 15, after beating the Stags at Rider 73-65 on Feb. 3. These two teams have met 55 times since the series began in 1951-52, with Rider winning 26, including nine of the last 17. Rider is 19-18 against Fairfield since joining the MAAC, including 1-2 in postseason.
Monday鈥檚 game is the fifth Rider game this season to be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, with at least seven more to follow.
ESPN3 is ESPN鈥檚 live multi-screen sports network, a 24/7 destination that delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com.
The Fairfield game is the third consecutive road game for the Broncs. Rider returns home to host Saint Peter鈥檚 Saturday and Monmouth Monday in an hOURglass weekend Jan. 10-12.
Rider鈥檚 next ESPN3 game will be at Quinnipiac Jan. 15.