A resilient Rider team ran out of second chances against Fairfield.
SPRINGFIELD - A late offensive surge wasn't enough to overcome nearly 30 minutes of futility as fifth-seeded Rider University dropped a 65-63 decision to No. 4 Fairfield Saturday in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarterfinals at the MassMutual Center.
The Stags advance to Sunday's semifinals against Iona, an 87-63 winner over Marist in the MAAC's second quarterfinal of the day.
Fairfield, fighting foul trouble most of the game and unable to score from the perimeter in the first half, had starters Ryan Olander and Maurice Barrow foul out, but not before the Stags found their range from behind the arc.
Fairfield hit 6 of 13 3-point field goal attempts in the second half, four by guard Desmond Wade, to fend off the late rush by the Broncs who trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half.
"Coach always says basketball is a game of runs and you just try and make sure at the end of the game you make the last run,'' Fairfield's Rakim Sanders said.
A first half in which both teams returned the offensive game to the Dark Ages was quickly forgotten when the 3-pointers began to rain down seemingly from the MMC rafters in the second half.
"As ugly as Fairfield made us look in the first half, we were really trying to lean on our defense to keep us in the game and it did,'' Rider coach Tommy Dempsey said.
Even a poor start to the second half in which the Broncs turned the ball over six times in the first six minutes and fell behind 33-23 wasn't enough to make the Broncs call it a day. A 14-2 run in which five different Broncs scored pulled them even at 37-37.
"I think they probably thought they had us buried three different times,'' Dempsey said of Fairfield. "I think what you saw in the last 15 minutes was two teams dying not to go home.''
Desmond Wade, who scored all 12 of his points in the second half, made back-to-back 3-pointers that re-opened the Stags lead. Then Colin Nickerson, starting for the injured Derek Needham, scored to give Fairfield a nine-point lead.
Jeff Jones (19 points) and Jonathon Thompson (19 points) drilled consecutive 3-pointers for Rider, then Jones was fouled on a layup, converting the free throw to tie the game once again.
Sanders (15 points) made big shots, Olander hit a 3-pointer and Wade a 3-pointer as Fairfield continued to try and pull away, but every time the Broncs found a way to keep it close.
Thompson's 3-pointer with 7.4 seconds left cut the lead to 63-62. Nickerson was fouled and went to the line. He made the first but missed the second, only to have Sanders grab the offensive board and get fouled with 4.2 seconds remaining.
Sanders hit one of two for a 65-62 lead. Instead of allowing the Broncs to get off a 3-pointer to try and tie, Fairfield coach Sydney Johnson had his players foul. Wade fouled Thompson with four-tenths of a second remaining.
Thompson made the first then intentionally missed the second, Rider's only chance to tie. Looking for a tip in, Rider's Junior Fortunat slapped the rebound off the glass but the ball did not find the basket.