The Rider University men's basketball team used a second-half surge to overpower the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, 85-70, on Monday evening at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, NJ. The Knights fall to 1-3 on the season, while the Broncs improve to 2-1.

Senior Manny Ubilla (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) broke the career-high he set on Friday against Lafayette, recording 28 points versus Rider. Sophomore Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) recorded his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Eric Hazard (Long Branch, NJ/St. Benedict's) chipped in 12 points.

The Knights fought a tightly-contested first half that saw eight ties.

Mike Ringgold recorded the first six of the Broncs' points, but a three from senior Bernell Murray (Stillwater, OK/Stillwater) tied the game up at 10-10 four minutes in.

The Knights took the lead, 12-9, with just under 15 minutes on the clock as Ubilla drained a shot from behind the arc.

Rider scored six unanswered points to take a 15-12 lead, but the Knights were able to tie the score again with a fast break lay-up from Ubilla followed by a three from the corner by Baptiste.

FDU was able to regain the lead on a pull-up jumper by Murray at the 9:50 mark, 19-18.

The two teams traded baskets over the next six minutes until Rider surged ahead to grab a 31-25 lead, but the Knights' 6-0 run again knotted the game with just under two minutes remaining in the half, 31-31. The Broncs scored the final five points of the half to enter the break with a slim 36-31 lead.

Ubilla started off the second half with back-to-back three's to give the Knights a 37-36 lead, but the Broncs fired the next seven points to take a 44-37 lead with 16:13 on the clock, a run capped by a trey from Jason Thompson.

Rider held its seven-point lead, 51-44, but Ubilla responded with one of his four three-pointers of the game.

Jason Thompson converted a three-point play to give Rider a double-digit lead, 58-47, finishing off a 7-0 run, but Fairleigh Dickinson responded as Hazard converted a three-point play on the other end (60-52).

Ryan Thompson scored the Broncs next 11 points to stake Rider to a 71-53 lead. RU was able to out-score Fairleigh Dickinson, 18-6, over a four-minute span for their biggest lead of the game, 76-53.

Fairleigh Dickinson's 11-4 stretch, on the strength of five points and a steal from Baptiste, brought the score to 80-64 with 2:56 remaining in the game, but FDU was unable to get any closer.

The Knights and Broncs were tied on the boards with 35 rebounds apiece. While FDU shot 38 percent from the field and 83 percent from the line, Rider shot 53 percent from the floor and 55 percent from the charity stripe.

Jason Thompson had 20 points, seven blocks and nine rebounds for Rider, while Ringgold added 17 points.

“We're four games in and we are still giving up way too many points,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “We were down only four points with 12 minutes to go before we opened the door for them.”

“Part of the solution is recognizing the problems and we've done that. We just have to get back to basics and we'll do that starting tomorrow. Defensively, we're still struggling and allowing our opponents too many open shots. You aren't going to win many games when you have 21 turnovers. We have a lot of practice time coming up and we look forward to trying to get the team back in a defensive mode. Combine that with executing our offense and hopefully we are going to start to improve.”

“We don't have a lot of depth, but I think that we are going to be able to compete with the teams on our schedule if we play a little harder and a little smarter.”

The Knights are back in action on Sunday, Nov. 25 at St. John's in Jamaica, NY.