Box Score LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Antwon Portley (Lancaster, Texas/Lancaster) scored 25 points to power Saint Peter's past Rider 73-61 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) men's basketball action on Wednesday.
Portley connected on 10-for-15 from the floor and 5 of 9 from behind the arc to post his third 20-point performance this season. The freshman added four rebounds and three assists.
Trevis Wyche (Neptune, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) added 11 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Peacocks (2-4, 1-0 MAAC) while Chazz Patterson (Brown Mills, Md./Trenton Catholic) chipped in eight points and six rebounds in the winning effort.
Teddy Okereafor paced the Broncs (1-6, 0-1 MAAC) with 17 points while Jimmie Taylor and Kealen Ives each registered 11 points in the loss.
Saint Peter's took the lead in the first half and then pulled away in the second half to notch its second-straight win against Rider and start the league slate 1-0 for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
After Kahlil Thomas gave the Broncs a 2-0 lead on a layup 10 seconds into the tilt, the Peacocks rolled off 15 of the next 19 points to take a 15-6 advantage with 13:30 left in the first half.
Portley and Patterson started the spurt with consecutive treys at 18:45 and 17:26 for a 6-2 edge. After Taylor scored in the lane at 17:10, Portley drained a jumper at 13:50 and Rodney Hawkins (Baltimore, Md./Lake Clifton) kissed the ball off the glass at 14:27 for a 10-4 margin. Kenny Grant momentarily halted the spurt with a layup at 13:30, but Cameron Jones (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) drained a 3-ball at 13:07 and Hawkins scored in the lane for a nine-point advantage.
Rider then scored the next eight points to trim the margin to 15-14 with 9:16 left thanks to a trey by Okereafor and Taylor and a layup by Zedric Sadler. Saint Peter's answered with five-straight points on a Mamadou Ndiaye (Columbia, Md./Old Mill) layup and a Portley trey for a 20-14 advantage at 7:47.
The Broncs closed the gap to 22-20 with 5:42 on the clock thanks to five points from Okereafor, but the Peacocks closed the half on an 8-3 run to go into the locker room with a 30-23 lead. After Portley started the spurt with a jumper at 5:21, Patterson beat the shot-clock buzzer deep behind the 3-point line at 2:31 and Elias Desport (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium) hit 1 of 2 for a 28-20 lead. Rider made four straight from the line before Desport drained two charity tosses with 2.8 left in the stanza to give Saint Peter's a seven-point margin at the break.
In the second half, the Peacocks used an 18-4 run to take a 23-point lead at 53-30 with 12:40 left. Portley powered the spurt with seven points. Saint Peter's maintained at least an 18-point lead for most of the second half before the Broncs made a run at the end of the game, but the Peacocks earned the 73-61 victory.
Hawkins added nine points and six rebounds while Jones chipped in seven points.
Jaquan Robertson (North Brunswick, N.J./Carteret), J.R. William (Linden, N.J./Linden) and Chris Williams (Bridgeport, Conn./Bridgeport) each made their collegiate debut in the final minute of the game.
It marked the second-straight win against Rider for Saint Peter's after the Peacocks downed the Broncs 68-59 in the MAAC Quarterfinals on Mar. 6, 2015. The win also ended a three-game regular season losing streak to Rider.
The Jersey City team improved to 18-17 overall in league openers and 6-4 under head coach John Dunne.
Saint Peter's returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Siena for its MAAC home opener. Game time is 2 p.m.
