University of Delaware Men's Basketball: 2001

2 0 0 1 - 2 0 0 2

Rider 94, Delaware 78
December 15, 2001
Defense Falters as Rider Posts Easy Win over Blue Hens

Ryan Iversen came off the bench to score 14 points, pull 10 rebounds, and dish seven assists in just 23 minutes

TRENTON, NJ -- Mario Porter scored 23 points, including 15 in the first half, as Rider broke open a close game early in the second half and cruised to a 94-78 men's basketball victory over the University of Delaware Saturday afternoon at Sovereign Bank Arena.

Rider (4-5), which won its second straight game, connected on 18 of 27 second half shots and broke away from a 42-42 tie with 15:36 left thanks to a 14-6 run. They later outscored the Blue Hens (3-5) 20-10 in one stretch on the way to the victory. Rider shot 54 percent from the field for the day, hitting on 34 of 63 shots from the field. That made up for a 39-28 Delaware advantage on the boards.

Delaware's Ryan Iversen came off the bench to score 14 points, pull 10 rebounds, and dish out seven assists in just 23 minutes of action for the Hens, who will take the next week off before returning to play Dec. 22 at George Mason in the team's Colonial Athletic Association debut.

Sophomore guard Mike Ames led the Hens with 17 points while Maurice Sessoms added 11 points and Austen Rowland had 10 points and six assists. The Hens were hurt by 17 turnovers while Rider committed just six miscues all day.

"Today's game was all about defense," said Delaware second year head coach David Henderson, whose team surrendered the most points in his 38-game tenure. "We didn't show the heart and determination you need on defense. You can't play the game without defense. Rider got some open shots in the second half and we didn't make the plays. We have to stop somebody. Coming in we knew they could score and we knew we had to play good defense. We just have to keep working and get tougher."

Porter, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference pre-season Player of the Year, led six Rider players in double figures with his 23 points. Freshman guard Jerry Johnson added 17 points while R.J. Wicks added 13 and Mike Scott and Laurence Young each came off the bench to add 11 points. Young also had six assists and three three-pointers. Rider, which entered the game averaging just 62.6 points per game, had a previous season-high scoring output of 75 vs. Bucknell.

Despite missing 8 of their first 9 shots and 11 of their first 14 shots from the field, the Blue Hens rallied back and connected on 12 of their last 18 tries from the field to forge a 34-34 tie. However, Porter's deep three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer gave the Broncs a 37-34 cushion at intermission.

Delaware scored the first six points of the second half, but Rider answered. After Rider forged a 42-42 tie with 15:36 left, the Broncs followed with a 14-6 run to go up 56-48 with 11:57 left and then scored 20 of the next 30 points to go up 76-58 with 5:19 left. Rider put up its biggest lead at 21 points at 83-62 in the final minutes.

The 94 points allowed by the Hens were the most by a Delaware opponent since Purdue posted a 95-56 win over Delaware in the opening round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament in Chicago.

AGATE:

Official Basketball Box Score

Official Basketball Box Score U. of Delaware vs Rider 12/15/01 3 p.m. at Sovereign Bank Arena - Trenton, NJ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: U. of Delaware 3-5 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 24 Wentt, Robin........ f 2-8 0-1 1-2 3 4 7 4 5 0 2 0 0 26 42 Hindenlang, Dave.... f 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 4 0 2 2 0 1 19 44 Sessoms, Maurice.... c 5-9 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 4 11 1 1 0 0 22 10 Ames, Mike.......... g 7-9 3-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 17 2 3 0 1 22 22 Rowland, Austen..... g 3-8 2-4 2-2 0 2 2 1 10 6 2 0 0 33 01 Hunter, Vohn........ 3-8 1-5 2-2 0 0 0 2 9 0 0 0 0 18 03 Slattery, Mike...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 4 3 0 0 7 31 Curry, Mark......... 2-4 0-0 1-2 3 2 5 1 5 1 1 0 0 16 32 Iversen, Ryan....... 5-7 1-3 3-4 2 8 10 2 14 7 2 0 1 23 35 Lunn, David......... 2-5 0-1 3-3 0 3 3 1 7 1 1 0 0 14 TEAM................ 1 1 Totals.............. 29-60 7-17 13-17 11 28 39 20 78 24 17 0 3 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-32 46.9% 2nd Half: 14-28 50.0% Game: 48.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 4- 7 57.1% Game: 41.2% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 1- 1 100.5% 2nd Half: 12-16 75.0% Game: 76.5% 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Rider 4-5 TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 34 Wicks, R.J.......... f 3-4 1-1 6-6 2 4 6 2 13 4 0 0 1 26 42 Porter, Mario....... f 9-15 1-1 4-6 0 5 5 2 23 1 0 1 2 37 44 Wahlmann, Brandon... c 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 8 21 Johnson, Jerry...... g 6-11 2-5 3-6 1 0 1 0 17 3 3 2 3 32 23 Baker, Rich......... g 2-8 0-5 0-0 0 3 3 3 4 4 0 0 1 23 12 Reed, Robert........ 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 1 1 1 0 12 22 Scott, Mike......... 5-6 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 3 11 0 1 0 1 20 31 Minyem, Armel....... 3-6 0-2 4-6 0 2 2 5 10 1 1 0 0 20 32 Taylor, Robert...... 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 4 33 Goncalves, Vitor.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 45 Young, Laurence..... 4-7 3-4 0-0 1 2 3 0 11 6 0 0 2 16 TEAM................ Totals.............. 34-63 9-22 17-24 6 22 28 18 94 21 6 5 10 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-36 44.4% 2nd Half: 18-27 66.7% Game: 54.0% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-12 25.0% 2nd Half: 6-10 60.0% Game: 40.9% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 2- 3 66.7% 2nd Half: 15-21 71.4% Game: 70.8% 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Bob Madigan, Leroy Hendricks, Bob Adams Technical fouls: U. of Delaware-None. Rider-None. Attendance: 1015 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total U. of Delaware................ 34 44 - 78 Rider......................... 37 57 - 94