Norville S. Carey registered a double figure score but the Rider University men’s basketball team was defeated by Iona, 95-76, on Friday February 3, 2017 at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Photo: Provided/File

Norville S. Carey (with ball) posted his sixth double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds on Friday February 3, 2017. Photo: Getty Images/File

With the loss, the Broncs fall to 13-11 (6-7 MAAC), while the Gaels won their sixth-straight game to improve to 16-8 (9-4 MAAC).

Norville S. Carey (British Virgin Islands/Red Lion Christian [Southern Miss]) posted his sixth double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds. He also picked off an assist and one steal.

Sam Cassell Jr led Iona with 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting and six rebounds, while Jordan Washington had 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Jon Severe also had 17 points and five assists, while E.J. Crawford also finished in double figures with 11 points.

A struggle

“Not a good performance by us today,” said Rider Head Coach Kevin Baggett. “We struggled in every facet of the game, especially on the defensive end. We didn’t do much right today.”

Rider jumped out to an early 4-1 lead on buckets from Thomas and Kealen Washington-Ives (Providence, RI/Classical/Putnam Science), but Iona made 15 of its first 20 shots, including 5-of-7 from long range, to build a 39-22 lead. The Gaels wouldn’t trail again. Thomas scored his 1,000th career point at the 4:06 mark to cut the deficit to 15 and spark a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 10. Carey scored the last four points of the run. But Iona answered with the last four points of the half to push its lead back to 45-31 at the break. 

After the Iona lead swelled back to 17 early in the second half, the Broncs scored six-straight points, including a putback slam from Taylor and a transition three from Durham, to cut the deficit to 52-41. But even more quickly, Iona scored eight-straight points to build its lead up to 19 points. The closest the Broncs would get the rest of the way was to within 15 on a Taylor lay-up with just over a minute remaining.

The Broncs return to action Monday February 6, 2017 when they play host to Monmouth. Tip-off from Alumni Gymnasium is scheduled for 7:00 PM.