Penn basketball encounters early foul trouble, falls to Rider

Small ball can win baseball games, but it doesn’t usually work out in the world of college basketball.

With its big men relegated to the bench thanks to early foul trouble, Penn basketball was reminded of that fact the hard way, falling to Rider, 73-57, in a game the Quakers only led for 1:45.

At first, the Red and Blue (0-2) were able to get some momentum thanks to the inside play of center Darien Nelson-Henry, who seemingly set the tone for the evening when he spun off Broncs center Matt Lopez for the game’s opening basket.

But by the 10:56 mark of the opening stanza, Nelson-Henry and 6-foot-7 power forward Greg Louis had already collected two fouls apiece, forcing coach Jerome Allen to leave the two on the bench for the rest of the half.

Rider (1-1) quickly took advantage.

The Broncs utilized their transition game to generate open shots and attacked Nelson-Henry’s replacement, 6-foot-7 freshman Mike Auger.

Then, with the Quakers down, 21-20, and only 7:04 to go until the break, Rider junior guard Khalil Alford came off the bench to bury the Red and Blue.

Alford — who had only played five minutes in the Broncs’ season-opening loss to Princeton — promptly scored on three straight possessions, his wide-open three from the corner capping an 8-0 run and forcing Allen into a timeout.

“The one thing we know is Khalil can score for us, he’s done it in the past,” Rider coach Kevin Baggett said. “He struggled a little bit defensively with a couple breakdowns late up in Princeton and I got on him quite a bit after that game because I thought he didn’t have the right energy for us that game coming off the bench ... but he responded tonight.”

Penn simply didn’t have an early answer to Rider’s hot shooting from beyond the arc — the Broncs shot 7-for-10 from long range en route to building a 40-26 halftime lead.

Though Rider was able to erase a 14-point second half deficit in their 89-88 win over the Red and Blue last year, the Quakers came up empty when they searched for a similar rally.

Three days after he burned Delaware State for 31 points, junior guard Tony Hicks had a quiet night. Though he led Penn in scoring with 11 points, the Broncs were able to key up on the shooter without a big inside presence to respect on the floor for Penn.

Freshman forward Sam Jones tried to make up for Hicks’ struggles with three first-half treys, but it wasn’t nearly enough to counter Rider’s outside shooters: the Broncs had three players hit multiple three-pointers, including Zedric Sadler, who shot a perfect 4-for-4 from deep en route to a game-high 23 points.

While the Broncs shot the lights out, Penn’s attack broke down, leading to a second consecutive loss in a three-game, season-opening homestand.

“I just thought that we played bad basketball offensively,” Allen said. “Especially once we got down double-digits. Guys just said: ‘You know what, I’m gonna stop trusting the system, I’m gonna try to get it done on my own.’

“The flip side of it is we had three [turnovers] in the first half, 11 in the second half, so I’m not surprised by the result.”

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