Jan. 5, 2007

Recap |  Final Stats

Rider Coach Tommy Dempsey

Opening statement:

"They're going to be a tough team to beat up here, so I'm pleased with our effort. We're very much struggling in the last few weeks offensively, but we'll get that turned around."

On trying to keep the game under control despite Marist's runs:

"They go on runs and they have great spurtability. We knew that going in, we talked to our guys a little bit about that. They're going to make their runs, and the key will be to stay calm and weather some runs they were going to make throughout the game. I think we did that for the most part, but we could just never get it going."

On Marist holding Terrance Mouton to two points in the second half:

"Terrance was doing a great job of sharing the ball. He only had three assists, but he should have had eight or nine, we just didn't make a lot of shots. He's playing great. He had a great first half; I thought he had a good second half. They did a lot to bottle him up in the second half, and that's where other guys need to step up and make plays, and we didn't make a lot of them."

Rider forward Jason Thompson

On being held to 4-for-16 shooting:

"For the most part, the Marist guys played me tough inside, but it's unacceptable because my teammates played tough and got me the ball inside where I needed to go, but I just needed to finish more. It's just one of those nights where everything wasn't falling. I'm hard on myself where if I have 16 attempts, it's unacceptable to only have four [field goals].

Marist Head Coach Matt Brady

Opening statement:

"I've been saying to our team for a few days that I thought this was a really big game for our team. I thought it was important that we start to get back to our level. It's certainly easier to get back to that level when Jared plays as well as he played, and [we get] key contributions from Spongy [Benjamin], and of course, Shae [McNamara] had a whale of a game.

On Shae McNamara's 14-point, seven-rebound game tonight:

"We have five frontcourt guys, and we have a lot of confidence in all of them. I feel like with Spongy [Benjamin] being able to man the low post defensively, Shae deserves the opportunity to see what he can do on the perimeter as a face-up four man. He runs so well and he plays with so much energy, he guards so many different positions that he can really give us a huge boost. His teammates have a lot of confidence in him, and tonight you see why."

On his team holding Rider to 55 points:

"This game was all about defense and keeping our turnovers to a manageable number."

Junior forward Shae McNamara's

On being able to provide a boost off the bench:

"I'm blessed with a body that can stay loose and not get tight. For some guys, it's the polar opposite, but for me I'm pretty blessed and pretty lucky to have that."

On the fan support the team receives:

"That's the real reason why I went to the school, because I knew they had great fan support outside the campus and since freshman year, we've had a growing response as far as the student body coming. Getting the new bleachers in both end zones really help and make it really tough to play here."

Senior point guard Jared Jordan

On bouncing back from the loss to Loyola on Tuesday:

"Everyone was upset. In our minds it was a horrible loss. But we knew we had to bounce back and we were fortunate to get a game pretty quickly. This was an important game for us because we knew we haven't been playing like we should be playing the last five games; obviously we still can get a lot better. But we wanted to win first, and then play better also."

On the status of his ankle:

"It's getting there. It gets better every day. It gets me excited because I'm not where I should be, but I'll be there soon and I'm excited for that time to come."