LAWRENCEVILLE — Already mired in the longest losing streak in program history, the hits kept coming in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matinee.
Rider lost its 10th straight game and sunk into the MAAC cellar after Siena methodically pulled away in the second half to win, 74-65, on Sunday at Alumni Gymnasium.
The Broncs (1-12, 0-4) haven’t beat a Division I opponent and are now the only winless team in league play after Fairfield got its first victory over Niagara on Sunday.
“We just got to win one,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “I’ve been saying it for a while now, just got to win one. Once you win one, everybody exhales. I think everybody is trying to do too much. Everybody is trying to carry too much and that’s when you struggle.”
Gavin Doty scored 19 points and Justice Shoats added 14 for the Saints (10-5, 3-1), who also won Friday night at Iona for a 2-0 weekend.
Zion Cruz led Rider with a game-high 20 points and Flash Burton added 17.
The problem, however, was twofold.
The Broncs gave up too many second-chance points — they were outscored, 18-7, in that department and conceded 18 offensive rebounds — and their shooting woes from beyond the arc continued with a 4-of-22 performance.
Those are numbers this team simply can’t overcome.
“It’s deflating,” Baggett said. “You’re doing a good job of defending the actions we talked about and we force them into a tough shot, and if you secure those rebounds it’s a closer game and give yourself a chance to win. We gave up way too many of those.”
That gets amplified when shots aren’t falling. Rider ranks next to last nationally in 3-point percentage at 25.6% and Siena was content to sit in a 2-3 zone and force the Broncs to make 3s over the top.
They didn’t.
“We all got to knock shots down,” Cruz said. “I don’t think (it’s confidence). We just got to get in the gym more. That’s about it.”
The Saints surged in front with an 18-8 close over the last 6:47 of the first half. In that stretch, the Broncs made just one field goal — a short Cruz jumper with 30 seconds left in the half — and trailed by nine at intermission.
Burton’s stretch of seven straight Rider points in the second half cut the deficit to 51-45 with 12:54 remaining, but he missed the and-one free throws and the Saints tallied the next eight points for a 14-point advantage with 9:30 to go.
“When we hit adversity throughout the game, that’s when you got to dial in even more,” Baggett said. “There’s a loose ball to be gotten, you got to dive on it. There’s a backdoor not to be given up, you can’t get backdoored. It’s just those things teams don’t allow us to have.”
