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GAME NOTES: A couple of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference programs tied for fifth place in the league standings hit the floor at Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville tonight, as the Rider Broncs play host to the Niagara Purple Eagles.

The Broncs were in action on Friday night and suffered an 80-73 setback against Loyola-Maryland at home. The defeat snapped a three-game win streak for the squad and left it a game under .500 versus the rest of the MAAC at 6-7.

As for the Purple Eagles, their meeting with Canisius at home three nights ago resulted in a 66-54 victory. The win was the second in a row for a program that had dropped three straight and six of the previous seven before putting together back-to-back victories.

Rider won the first meeting of the season between these squads just a couple weeks back with a narrow 62-61 decision at the Gallagher Center. Nevertheless, Niagara still leads the all-time series by a count of 19-11.

The Purple Eagles shot just 9-of-27 behind the three-point line where they tried almost half of all their field goal attempts, but they still came away with the win against Canisius. Rob Garrison was credited with a team-best 18 points and he handed out five assists for Niagara, while Anthony Nelson contributed 17 points. Between the two they shot 9-of-11 at the free-throw line, but that means they accounted for all the trips to the charity stripe in the event. Garrison, one of two players to start all 25 games, is averaging 11.3 ppg even though he has been shooting just 38.2 percent from the floor. Nelson adds another 10.4 ppg and is tops on the assists list with 124. Bilal Benn (13.6 ppg) is clearing a team-best 9.7 rpg, but still this group is being beaten on the glass by more than three rebounds per contest.

The Broncs put five players in double figures on Friday night, led by Justin Robinson with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor, but even all of that was not good enough to get Rider into the win column versus Loyola- Maryland. Ryan Thompson added 14 points, but his 3-of-15 shooting from the floor might have done more harm than good. Brandon Penn chipped in 11 points off the bench, followed by Mike Ringgold and Novar Gadson with 10 points and six rebounds apiece. Ryan Thompson, the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, is tops on the scoring list for the Broncs with his 15.5 ppg, but his 30.4 percent shooting behind the three-point line has not helped his campaign to carry that recognition to the end of the season. Gadson, one of four to be scoring in double figures at the moment, puts up 11.2 ppg and has led the group with almost eight rebounds per contest.

Ryan Thompson may have a couple of bad outings here and there, but the fact remains that he is one of the top performers in the MAAC and he'll be sure to show up in tonight's meeting to give the home team a chance to win.