LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The TCNJ men's basketball team enjoyed a unique experience on Saturday, making the short trip to Division I Mercer County neighbor for a rare interdivision tilt. The Lions took an early lead and trailed by just six well past the midway point of the first half before the Broncs pulled away and claimed an 87-50 victory.
Permitted to play one exhibition game per season, and having already done it against Cabrini, Saturday's game was official for Rider. It did not count for the Lions, who will officially open the 2022-23 campaign Tuesday at Ursinus.
Danny Bodine turned in a terrific performance in the unofficial "opener," scoring a team-high 15 points on an efficient 7-of-11 from the field. He also pulled down a team-leading six rebounds.
Jim Clemente,
Pat Higgins, and
Jason Larranaga each tallied nine points for TCNJ.
Larranaga's 3-pointer on an assist from
Anthony DiCaro staked the visitors to an early 3-2 lead, and the Lions were still hanging around for much of the first half. Higgins buried a triple of his own to slice Rider's advantage to 19-15 at the 12:50 mark, and Clemente set up a bucket by Bodine on a big-to-big action to make it a 25-19 spread with 7:28 to go before half.
The Broncs (1-1), who took Big East contender Providence down to the wire in Rhode Island earlier in the week, used a 12-0 spurt to build up a 21-point lead (44-23) before a pair of Clemente free throws and another Bodine bucket stopped the bleeding.
Rider tacked on a 10-0 run early in the second half to extend its lead to 58-31, and the margin swelled beyond 30 before the midway point of the stanza. The 37-point final spread was the largest of the afternoon.
The Broncs used their size advantage to rack up a 56-24 advantage in points in the paint and shoot 50.7 percent from the field (36-of-71).
TCNJ shot 40.0 percent in the second half and 37.3 percent for the day (19-for-51), but the Lions were just 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) from beyond the arc.
Higgins finished 3-of-6 from the floor and dished out a team-high three assists to just one turnover, while Clemente was an effective 3-for-5 from the field to go with five rebounds. Larranaga knocked down a trio of treys on 10 attempts.
All 16 healthy Lions saw court time.
TCNJ officially tips off the new season on Tuesday night at Ursinus.
