JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Saint Peter's University men's basketball team dropped the final contest of the season series with hOURglass Rival Rider on Saturday night at John Moore Athletics Center on the campus of NJCU. The Peacocks fell 78-65 to the Broncs, dropping their MAAC record to 9-7 and overall record to 12-9, while Rider improved to 5-11 in conference action and 5-14 overall.
KC Ndefo was one point off his career scoring mark, which he posted in the series opener on Friday, finishing with 21 points.
Hassan Drame joined Ndefo in double-figures with 13 points.
The Basics
Score: Saint Peter's 65, Rider 78
Records: Saint Peter's (12-9, 9-7 MAAC) | Rider (5-14, 5-11 MAAC)
Location: John Moore Athletics Center | Jersey City, NJ
How It Happened
- Peacocks opened Saturday night's meeting with the first basket, following a steal from Ndefo, who brought the ball the length of the floor and finished with a contested shot at the basket.
- The 2-0 lead would be the only lead of the night for SPU as Rider jumped out to an 8-4 lead.
- Trailing 8-4, graduate Tarojae Brake knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the differential to two points.
- The Broncs then began a 14-2 run to take a 19-8 lead until a turn-around jumper from H. Drame ended the drought with 13:11 to go in the first half.
- The run would extend to 19-4 as the Broncs took a 24-10 lead two minutes later.
- A Matthew Lee to Ndefo inbound alley-oop would breathe much-needed life back into Saint Peter's offense, bringing the score to 24-12.
- The margin would remain through the 3:34 mark of the first half, as Rider held to a 39-22 advantage.
- The Peacocks would begin climbing back, bringing the score to 41-29 with one-minute remaining in the half following a deep triple from Doug Edert.
- Saint Peter's ultimately finished the half out on an 11-4 run, entering the locker room trailing 43-31.
- Rider had gone 9-for-11 from three-point range by the 4:59 mark of the half and finished the half with an eye-popping 69.2 percent shooting from deep.
- Ndefo kicked off the second half with two quick baskets for the Peacocks, trimming the Broncs lead back to single digits before another triple from Rider put the visitors back up 46-35.
- The deep ball spurred another 13-3 run for the visitors, leading to a 56-38 advantage for the Broncs.
- Later on in the tilt, Marty Silvera connected on a triple with less than eight minutes to go, bringing the score to 62-45 in favor of the visitors.
- A pivotal triple from Noah Kamba at the 5:41 mark kickstarted an 8-4 run for the Peacocks as they cut the Rider lead to 68-53.
- The Broncs maintained a 16-point lead over the next minute and a half, featuring just three made free throws from H. Drame during the stretch.
Notes
- With his 21 points, Ndefo has now exceeded 20+ points in back-to-back games and done so three times in the last five contests.
- Ndefo also led the home side with three steals, one block, and he pulled down five boards.
- Additionally, Ndefo's block in the meeting was the 200th of his stellar career, making him only the second player in program history to reach the 200 blocked shots plateau.
- H. Drame matched his season-high in points, while leading the Peacocks in rebounds (6) for the seventh time during the campaign.
- Rider was led by its sophomore guard Allen Powell who played the entirety of the game, scoring a career-high 25 points, one day after being held to just three by the Peacocks defense.
- Rider led the rivalry game for almost 38 minutes and shot 54 percent from the floor and 62.5 percent from three.
- This was the first time ever under head coach Shaheen Holloway that SPU allowed a team to make over 60 percent of its three-point attempts and the first time since January of 2020 that a team connected on more than half of their long ball attempts.
- The Peacocks posted advantages over the Broncs in rebounding (30-29), points in the paint (26-22), second chance points (15-4), and bench points (22-6).
- Following Saturday's results around the league, Saint Peter's will head into the final week of the season in third place on the MAAC leader board.
Up Next
Saint Peter's heads to Hamden, CT for the regular season series finale against Quinnipiac on Thursday (Mar. 4) and Friday (Mar. 5). The 2020-21 schedule, however, remains fluid and is subject to change.
