ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – No. 3 Saint Peter's men's basketball dominated the second half of its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) quarterfinals meeting against No. 11 Rider, earning a 75-60 win at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Thursday night. The win advanced the Peacock to the semifinals where the team will meet No. 7 Fairfield.
The Peacocks were led in scoring by the all-conference duo of
Daryl Banks III and
KC Ndefo, while
Hassan Drame also exceeded double-digits scoring in the victory. Dwight Murray Jr. and Rodney Henderson Jr. each scored 15 points to lead Rider.
The Basics
Score: Saint Peter's 75, Rider 60
Records: Saint Peter's (14-10, 10-8 MAAC) | Rider (6-17, 5-13 MAAC)
Location: Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall | Atlantic City, NJ
How It Happened
- Saint Peter's never led in the game's opening 20 minutes and trailed by as many as 10 points (30-20) with 7:10 left in the half.
- From that point until intermission the pendulum swung in favor of Saint Peter's, as SPU scored 13 out of the halves final 19 points, cutting its deficit to 36-33.
- Over those final seven minutes, H. Drame scored eight of his 10 points to lead the Peacocks and the team cut the deficit to one possession.
- The Peacocks continued to ride the momentum of the first half right into the second half, opening things up with the first four points to take the first lead of the night, and then an 8-2 run to extend the lead to 41-38, following four straight alternating layups by Ndefo and Fousseyni Drame.
- Saint Peter's would not relinquish the lead from that moment on.
- The second half rally would continue with Banks leading the charge, scoring nine of the team's next 13 points, pushing the advantage to 54-42 with 11:38 to play.
- That particular stretch witnessed Saint Peter's outscore Rider 13-4, which extended the second half run to 21-6, and the overall rally since the first half to 34-12.
- After allowing the Broncs to get within single-digits again, a huge triple by Doug Edert mixed with a mid range pull up from Banks and a tough layup by Ndefo, jumped the lead to 62-49.
- The Peacocks would keep their foot on the pedal, going up by the largest lead of the game (75-55) with two minutes to go after Banks hit the final trifecta of the game for the SPU.
- SPU would not score again, but the lead was enough to still come away with a 15-point victory.
Notes
- Banks was on fire in the meeting, scoring a game-high 20 points on a near perfect shooting night.
- He finished the night 7-of-8 from the field, 4-of-5 from three, and 2-of-2 from the line.
- Ndefo followed with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while adding seven boards, four dimes, one steal and one block.
- Ndefo's one block gives him 209 for his career, tying him for first place with Ryan Bacon on the all-time leaderboard.
- H. Drame rounded out the double-figure scorers with a 5-for-7 field goal performance, totaling 10 points and five rebounds.
- Saint Peter's lit up the rim in the win, posting a season-high .636 field goal percentage (28-of-48), while also shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc and a near-perfect .923 from the line (12-of-13).
- The Peacocks owned the paint, winning the battle of the glass, grabbing 24 rebounds compared to just 17 for the Broncs and outsourcing Rider 34-26 in the paint.
- In the second half alone, SPU scored more than half of its points in the paint, totaling 22 paint points, additionally.
- The Peacocks MAAC tournament record against Rider improves to 6-3 all-time, the team's quarterfinals record jumps to 19-11 overall, and the program's overall tournament record improves to 37-36.
- Saint Peter's will play in its 19th overall MAAC semifinals, first since 2018.
Up Next
Saint Peter's advances to the semifinal round of the MAAC Men's Basketball Championship tomorrow, March 12 for a meeting against No. 7 Fairfield at 8:30pm.
