Men's College Basketball
Rider to Compete in Cancun Challenge
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Rider University basketball team will compete in the second annual Cancun Challenge in November. “We are really excited about the opportunity to play in the Cancun Challenge,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey.
The tournament features eight teams and will be played November 18-25. There will be eight games playing in the United States and eight games played in the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico.
Travel packages are now available through Triple Crown Sports. These packages include admission to all games, all meals and snacks at 12 different restaurants, free admission to Wet-N-Wild waterpark and much more. See the attached link above for details.
Rider will play at the University of Virginia November 19, at the University of Kentucky November 21, and will play Florida A & M November 24 in Cancun. The Broncs will play the final game of the tournament November 25, against either Oral Roberts or Sam Houston, also in Cancun.
“I know the players are really looking forward to playing against Virginia and Kentucky,” Dempsey said. “Not only are they great teams with proud traditions, but they play in two of the nicest basketball arenas in the country. After those games we then get to travel to beautiful Cancun, Mexico to play two more exciting games.”
Other teams in the tournament include Cleveland State and Stanford.
“We were looking to play a challenging schedule this year and this is a great start to the non-league portion of our schedule," Dempsey said.
With the return of four starters, the 2009-10 Broncs are once again expected to be one of the top teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The returnees are led by Ryan Thompson, a 6'6” senior point guard who last year ranked in the top 11 in the MAAC in eight categories, including second in scoring (18.0), seventh in assists (3.3) and 11th in rebounding (6.5).
Also returning to the starting line up are 6'7” junior forward Mike Ringgold, 6'7” sophomore guard/forward Novar Gadson and 6'2” junior guard Justin Robinson.
Ringgold ranked seventh in the MAAC in field goal percentage last season and was ninth in rebounding, 21st in scoring.
Gadson was named the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Freshman of the Year for 2008-09 and was named to the Collegeinsider.com Freshman Mid-Major All-America team.
Robinson moved from the point guard to shooting guard last season and led the MAAC in 3-point field goal percentage (.437).
The key newcomer is 6'1” junior guard Jhamar Youngblood, a transfer from Monmouth University where he was the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year as a freshman and the Hawks' leading scorer as a sophomore.
Rider has won 58 games over the last three years, the most in program history.
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