Rider Uses Quick Starts To Defeat QU Men's Basketball

Sunday, January 24

Alumni Gymnasium - Lawrenceville, NJ

4:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-12, 2-6MAAC

Rider University

7-13, 3-6MAAC

Quinnipiac

Rider University

Rider Uses Quick Starts To Defeat QU Men's Basketball

1/24/2016 6:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The Rider men's basketball team started both halves with 7-0 scoring runs to seize momentum quickly and went on to capture a 75-52 win over Quinnipiac in a MAAC contest on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium.

With the win, Rider improves to 7-13 overall and 3-6 in the MAAC while earning a season split with Quinnipiac after the Bobcats won the first meeting at home 64-60 back on Jan. 4. Quinnipiac sees its record fall to 5-12 overall and 2-6 in the MAAC with the loss.

The Bobcats started slow, falling behind 7-0 in the opening minutes before junior forward Donovan Smith (Chicago, Ill.) came off the bench to score Quinnipiac's first points of the game on a jump hook with 14:35 left in the first half. A three-pointer from sophomore guard Dimitri Floras (Nashua, N.H.) cut a 15-6 Rider lead down to 17-14, but the Broncs then scored the next eight points to go ahead by 11 at 25-14, their largest lead of the first half.

Senior guard James Ford, Jr. (Hopewell, Va.) responded with a pair of three-pointers to keep Quinnipiac close, and freshman forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md.) scored on a putback to get the Bobcats within 31-26, but Rider closed out the half on a 6-1 run to take a 37-27 lead into the break.

The second half started slowly again for the Bobcats, though, as Rider scored on its first three possessions to quickly build its lead up to 44-27 at the 18:32 mark. McLean stopped the run with two foul shots, and had 12 of his 14 in the second half to try to get the Bobcats closer, but they were unable to get the score within single digits the rest of the way.

Bundu finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds (five offensive) to lead Quinnipiac, while McLean had 14. Kahlil Thomas had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to pace four players in double figures for Rider. Jimmie Taylor added 14 points, Khalil Alford had 11 and Teddy Okereafor had 10.

Quinnipiac will be back in action this weekend for a pair of home games, first meeting Monmouth on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. (part of a doubleheader with the Quinnipiac women's basketball team, which faces Monmouth at 5 p.m.) and then entertaining Niagara on Saturday at 2 p.m. For ticket information for this week's contests and all Quinnipiac home games, contact the TD Bank Sports Center box office at 203-582-3905 or visit QuinnipiacBobcats.com.