Dwight Murray (55) gives direction to teammates Mervin James (first from left), Allen Powell (2) and Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson (13) during Rider’s game at Manhattan on February 5. Broncs have won seven straight to gain sole possession of MAAC lead. (Photo by Kyle Franko/The Trentonian)
The first MAAC Monday of February focuses on the hottest team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference as a seven-game win streak has pushed it to the top of the league standings. From there, the weekly MAAC recap transitions into the latest round of quick hit postgame quotes before giving way to stat leaders and power rankings.
One disclaimer before I go any further: This week’s stat leaders reflect statistics in MAAC games only. If this change is well-received, I’ll use it more often moving forward.
After slaying the giant last March when Dwight Murray, Jr.’s runner in the lane was the coup de grace that knocked Iona out of the MAAC tournament, Rider was projected to be among the biggest threats to the Gaels after returning nearly everyone to Lawrenceville this season and adding a pair of transfers in Allen Betrand and Tariq Ingraham to a deceptively strong and deep roster that also welcomed Tyrel Bladen back from a torn ACL. But through the first two months of the year, the struggle to find consistency reached a peak in a January 8 loss to Siena dropping the Broncs to 3-3 in MAAC play and seemingly relegating them to the middle of the pack in the conference behind Iona, Siena and an overachieving Quinnipiac team.
The past four weeks have been the furthest thing from struggle or inconsistency, however, as Rider has won seven straight behind a commitment to getting back to basics and, in Kevin Baggett’s own words, doing what the Broncs do. By that, the 12th-year head coach — the longest-tenured MAAC coach at his current school — means a renewed focus on a stout defense that, for the majority of his tenure, has ranked among the conference’s best in metrics despite almost never getting the credit it deserves in a reversal of fortune that has seen the Broncs allow more than 65 points just twice in their current surge.
“It starts with me,” Baggett said, taking accountability for the need to change tactics and messaging. “I needed to adjust. Sometimes I get on these guys too much. I needed to pull back, trust them just as they trust me, and we just needed to come together. We needed to defend better. Once we started defending better, we always talked about having enough scoring punch, and I thought these guys really started locking in.”
“We went to the classroom with these guys in terms of watching more film, just on each and every one of our guys in terms of what we’re asking them to do. I thought they responded during the break. We just got better, and we just — the togetherness, the communication — everything we do is together. This group is together more than any team I’ve ever had.”
Baggett has heralded the improved communication with his roster, particularly on defense end. While that has blossomed, so too has a leadership role shared by Murray, Mervin James, Allen Powell and Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson — the core of last year’s group — in getting their younger teammates to follow their example and play a cohesive brand of winning basketball.
“I think guys have played more like we did during the playoffs last year,” Ogemuno-Johnson assessed. “I think the maturity of it is guys recognizing exactly the team that we have, so I think me, DJ, the core guys, are bringing everybody in. And I think they’re buying in too, so that’s what’s really been helping us so far.”
“We’ve grown tremendously,” Baggett proudly reiterated. “I wouldn’t even just say in this streak, prior to that, we were getting better. The communication’s always big for us, talking on defense. And when they go down the other end away from our bench the second half, that’s when it’s really important. When games get late, we’re not able to communicate with them as much as we are the first half. I believe they’ve done such a better job in understanding, ‘hey, we know what one another can do,’ and if we need to switch or call out whatever screen, or whatever action it might be, that they’re doing it consistently as opposed to what we were doing early on.”
Rider’s adjustment has gone beyond Baggett and spread to a front line that has now taken shape and assumed more of its natural look with the added depth of Ingraham and a returning Bladen, which has allowed Nehemiah Benson to play his natural position behind James at the four spot while Ogemuno-Johnson has evolved as the Broncs’ sixth man and returned to his eye-opening MAAC tournament form in the process.
“I think me and Coach talked about it,” Ogemuno-Johnson said of his rediscovered efficiency. “And what we decided on was me coming off the bench and just having a feel for the game, seeing what’s going on. And I think that’s really helped me when I come in. I know what I’m doing and I see exactly what guys are doing, so I just needed to slow down a little bit. That’s one of my key points that I needed to get back to, slow down and just play, have fun.”
“It gives us 15 fouls instead of five,” Baggett said of the influx of frontcourt depth. “We had Nehemiah playing the post position and he’s not a five man. We didn’t have as much depth there, and I think it just gives Ajiri confidence, gives Mervin confidence that they’ve got guys behind them. Now Nehemiah's playing his natural position behind Mervin, giving Mervin some subs, and the same thing with Ajiri. He’s spelling Tariq and also ’Rel, and it’s just nice to be able to cycle guys in and out. And they all bring something different. It’s just complementary basketball at its best right now.”
The improvement in complementary basketball would be remiss if it did not include James’ change into a more disciplined, polished forward. Last season, the North Alabama transfer battled foul trouble through the majority of the season, forcing Baggett to rely on Murray and Powell heavier than he had hoped. This year, James has made drastic cutbacks in that facet of his game, with the work translating to more productive averages that should land the senior all-MAAC recognition at the end of the regular season, but most importantly, a team game that flourishes through him and brings out the best in those around him.
“I would say that’s big,” James said of reducing his proclivity to commit fouls. “I got in with the assistant coaches and started watching my defensive breakdowns from last year, where my hands were reaching, sliding my feet. Me watching that showed me I had to cut players off and let them try to finish over me.”
“It’s huge,” Baggett expounded. “We need him on the court because we’re better with him than without him, and that was key last year. We were leading games and then we ended up losing without Mervin, being in foul trouble. So to have him on the court as much as we have him on the court, and Ajiri as well, DJ and AP, Betrand, those guys have so much experience. We need them on the court.”
The sum of Rider’s whole is greater than that of its parts, and the impact of the Broncs’ bench has been felt more and more as the season draws closer to the stretch run. Benson, Bladen and Corey McKeithan have been around the program for more than one season now, while Division II transfer Zahrion Blue from Lincoln University and NJIT expatriate Adetokunbo “Toks” Bakare, a lethal 3-point shooter that has missed just twice from long range in MAAC play, have emerged as steady reserves who affect winning beyond the final numbers and add to the intangibles of a team that trusts one another and forges a bond through the heat of battle.
“It’s a huge momentum builder,” Baggett said of his second unit. “Just think about a couple games ago, the Marist game (January 27) where my starters struggled and we put the second guys in, and they come in and cut the lead back down to two at halftime. It was just like, okay, we could trust in one another, we’ve got guys who can come off the bench and do what they do, and they’re coming off with a lot of confidence now and they’re just playing. I think early on, we weren't doing that. Once guys got settled in and comfortable and trusted one another, that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about trust and being together.”
Quick Hits Around the MAAC
“We’ve got to value possessions more. You can’t have 16 turnovers on the road and expect to win, and I thought offensively, we became stagnant at times, we had some ill-timed turnovers. But like I said, credit Manhattan for winning the game.”— Carmen Maciariello on what went wrong for Siena in Friday’s overtime loss at Manhattan
“It hurts. We should able to close out games being the basketball team we are, and I take responsibility for this, not having these guys in the right spots. We’ve got to evaluate the ball more and make sure we can close out games. Good teams close out games.”
— Andrew Platek on what can be learned after Siena's loss at Manhattan
“I just think our focus wasn’t where it needed to be. We felt we were in a good position, I thought we made enough plays to be in position, but there was no sense of urgency to close out the game. We don’t want to hope teams miss, we want to make them miss. We had to be able to finish it, and we didn’t.”
— Maciariello on not being able to close out against Manhattan
“I know early on, I said these young men hadn’t played meaningful minutes. Now they’re starting to play meaningful minutes, we’re getting battle-tested every weekend, and you’re starting to see the results. They’re starting to believe in each other, especially in big-time moments they never were in before, now they have experience going through that.”
— RaShawn Stores on Manhattan’s evolution over the course of the season
“I’m just happy to see this young man grow. He’s been through a lot, so just to see his leadership, these young men follow him. He’s becoming a big-time leader, on and off the court, so like he said, God is blessing him right now and blessing us. That’s great to see.”
— Stores on Anthony Nelson’s maturation into a leader on and off the court
“Every win matters for this group. We have nine seniors I want to send out the right way. We’ve been facing adversity all year. (We) continue to lean on and believe in each other.”
— Stores on being validated by Friday’s win over Siena
“These guys are tough, they make things a little dicey at times. We lost our composure a little bit, and then we got it back. They made their run, they made some big shots, give them credit. They made some big-time shots, and then we rallied back with these two guys (Mervin James and Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson), DJ (Murray) and (Allen Powell).”
— Kevin Baggett on Rider’s win at Manhattan Sunday
“The putbacks were huge, Ajiri and Mervin playing off of one another were huge. Being able to outrebound them, which is one of their strengths, I thought these guys did an excellent job.”
— Baggett on Ogemuno-Johnson and James leading Rider in outrebounding Manhattan, 44-27
“I would say that version of Ajiri helps the team big. I be harping on him at practice, telling him I need him in the game, so just for him to pick it up and just come back these last two games is big for us, and we needed that. To see him do that is big.”
— Mervin James on Ajiri Ogemuno-Johnson returning to his form from last season’s MAAC tournament
“Here at home, the crowd was behind us, you make a run. We’ve gotta be able to finish the game. That’s it. We've gotta step up and have the mental focus to knock this out regardless of who’s playing. I don’t care (if) guys are sick, guys are injured, it doesn’t matter. You win the game. We’ve gotta get back to work.”
— Maciariello after Siena squandered a lead Sunday against Niagara
“I hope he takes it hard. You want to be invested. It should hurt. You don’t want to lose games. I don’t want to lose in Monopoly, I don’t want to lose in anything I do. I think he’s understanding how much work and how hard you have to play, and how much effort you have to put in every single day.”
— Maciariello on Zek Tekin missing two last-second free throws that could have tied the game for Siena
“I’m proud of the guys. Each game, you have to win a different way, and sometimes it’s from the free throw line or getting stops, sometimes it’s coming back from behind. We didn’t execute the way we would like to, but credit Siena for making some big shots. I just really like how we responded and kept getting stops despite missing free throws.”
— Greg Paulus on Niagara’s resolve in defeating Siena on Sunday
“I thought the difference in the game was that first five minutes of the second half where we didn’t come out ready to play, and starting slow in the second half has been a problem for us all year. Credit to our guys, we got it back to five with three minutes to go and had a foul called on us, and they went to the line and made a couple. But I’m proud of the way we fought back.”
— Jay Young on the turning point in Fairfield’s loss to Iona Sunday
“The offensive numbers continue to be abysmal and we shot the ball poorly again today, but I believe in our guys and I believe that we’ll make some, but we have to start making them down the stretch here.”
— Young on Fairfield’s shooting struggles
CREDITS: Maciariello’s Sunday quotes and Paulus’ quotes came via Mark Singelais’ game story in the Albany Times Union, Young’s quotes are via Daly Dose Of Hoops’ Pete Janny on Twitter
Scoring Leaders
1) Noah Thomasson, Niagara (19.8 PPG)
2) Patrick Gardner, Marist (19.5)
3) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (16.4)
4) Isiah Dasher, Saint Peter’s (16.2)
T-5) Jalen Benjamin, Mount St. Mary’s (15.5)
T-5) Daniss Jenkins, Iona (15.5)
7) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (15.1)
8) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (15.0)
9) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (14.8)
10) Mervin James, Rider (14.3)
Rebounding Leaders
1) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (11.0 RPG)
2) Josh Roberts, Manhattan (9.3)
3) Supreme Cook, Fairfield (8.8)
4) Michael Baer, Siena (7.9)
5) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (7.8)
6) Mervin James, Rider (7.5)
7) Jared Billups, Siena (7.4)
8) George Tinsley, Mount St. Mary’s (6.8)
9) Jacco Fritz, Canisius (6.5)
10) Xzavier Long, Canisius (6.4)
Assist Leaders
1) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (5.2 APG)
2) Daniss Jenkins, Iona (5.0)
3) Dezi Jones, Quinnipiac (4.4)
4) Luis Kortright, Quinnipiac (3.6)
5) Latrell Reid, Saint Peter’s (3.4)
6) Noah Thomasson, Niagara (3.1)
7) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (3.0)
8) Isaiah Brickner, Marist (2.8)
9) Jalen Benjamin, Mount St. Mary’s (2.8)
10) Jacco Fritz, Canisius (2.6)
Field Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Josh Roberts, Manhattan (.692)
2) Jedy Cordilia, Mount St. Mary’s (.632)
3) Paul Otieno, Quinnipiac (.576)
4) Allan Jeanne-Rose, Fairfield (.551)
5) Patrick Gardner, Marist (.541)
6) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (.527)
7) Supreme Cook, Fairfield (.525)
8) Noah Thomasson, Niagara (.513)
9) Mervin James, Rider (.504)
10) Jackson Stormo, Siena (.497)
Free Throw Percentage Leaders
1) Isaiah Brickner, Marist (.968)
2) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (.955)
3) Mervin James, Rider (.878)
4) Jackson Stormo, Siena (.864)
5) Dezi Jones, Quinnipiac (.857)
6) Isiah Dasher, Saint Peter’s (.839)
7) Jalen Benjamin, Mount St. Mary’s (.838)
8) Sam Iorio, Niagara (.800)
9) Caleb Fields, Fairfield (.796)
10) Samir Stewart, Manhattan (.781)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage Leaders
1) Adetokunbo Bakare, Rider (.846)
2) Michael Baer, Siena (.522)
3) Nick Brennen, Manhattan (.463)
4) Jalen Benjamin, Mount St. Mary’s (.460)
5) Andrew Platek, Siena (.453)
6) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (.447)
7) Samir Stewart, Manhattan (.429)
8) Noah Thomasson, Niagara (.410)
9) Dezi Jones, Quinnipiac (.406)
10) Aaron Gray, Niagara (.375)
Steal Leaders
1) Walter Clayton, Jr., Iona (2.2 SPG)
2) Caleb Fields, Fairfield (1.8)
3) Anthony Nelson, Manhattan (1.8)
4) Dwight Murray, Jr., Rider (1.4)
5) Daniss Jenkins, Iona (1.3)
Blocked Shot Leaders
1) Osborn Shema, Iona (1.8 BPG)
2) Josh Roberts, Manhattan (1.7)
3) Jackson Stormo, Siena (1.6)
4) Berrick JeanLouis, Iona (1.5)
T-5) Michael Baer, Siena (1.3)
T-5) Nelly Junior Joseph, Iona (1.3)
Power Rankings
1) Rider (13-9, 10-3 MAAC)
Last Week: 2
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 at Manhattan (W 67-56)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 vs. Fairfield, 7 p.m.
2) Iona (16-7, 9-3 MAAC)
Last Week: 3
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 at Fairfield (L 70-61)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 at Canisius, 7 p.m.
3) Siena (15-9, 9-4 MAAC)
Last Week: 1
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 vs. Niagara (L 56-54)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 at Mount St. Mary’s, 7 p.m.
4) Niagara (13-9, 8-5 MAAC)
Last Week: 5
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 at Siena (W 56-54)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 vs. Quinnipiac, 7 p.m.
5) Quinnipiac (17-7, 8-5 MAAC)
Last Week: 4
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 vs. Mount St. Mary’s (L 79-75)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 at Niagara, 7 p.m.
6) Manhattan (8-14, 6-7 MAAC)
Last Week: 7
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 vs. Rider (L 67-56)
Next Game: Sunday 2/12 vs. Saint Peter’s, 2 p.m.
7) Fairfield (10-13, 6-7 MAAC)
Last Week: 6
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 vs. Iona (L 70-61)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 at Rider, 7 p.m.
8) Marist (8-14, 4-9 MAAC)
Last Week: 10
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 vs. Canisius (W 75-67)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 at Saint Peter’s, 7 p.m.
9) Saint Peter’s (9-13, 4-9 MAAC)
Last Week: 8
Last Game: Friday 2/3 at Rider (L 82-61)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 vs. Marist, 7 p.m.
10) Mount St. Mary’s (8-16, 4-9 MAAC)
Last Week: 9
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 at Quinnipiac (W 79-75)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 vs. Siena, 7 p.m.
11) Canisius (5-17, 3-10 MAAC)
Last Week: 11
Last Game: Sunday 2/5 at Marist (L 75-67)
Next Game: Friday 2/10 vs. Iona, 7 p.m.
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