LAWRENCEVILLE —  Of all the loses that are piling up this was the most heartbreaking. In a game Rider desperately needed to get off a long losing strike, Manhattan struck yet another blow to a season that is spiraling off the cliff. Jaden Winston made a 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds remaining after Jay Alvarez gave Rider the lead with on a basket with 13 seconds left and the Jaspers handed the Broncs an eighth straight defeat, 80-79, on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium. “An awful way to lose,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “Especially when you know the guy who has the ball in his hands is going to be the guy to take a shot. It didn’t just come down to that play. We turned the ball over late, breakdowns defensively when you need to get stops. “If you’re guarding him, you know he’s going to shoot it. If you keep backing off a guy, it’s what you do in the park. You know that guy is going to shoot it and you back up and you don’t guard him. You got to at least understand that you’re not going to give up a 3, which would cost you the game. We don’t think basketball enough.” Rider coach Kevin Baggettl, left, talks with his team against Manhattan during a MAAC men’s basketball game on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Rider (4-10, 0-3) led by seven with 3:40 remaining before giving up a 7-0 run that was aided by a pair of sloppy live-ball turnovers — both by Andre Young who had played well off the bench up until that point — led to quick transition points for Manhattan. The Broncs looked like they were in big trouble after terrific freshman Will Sydnor blew past T.J. Weeks Jr. on consecutive possessions, but an 11-0 sparked by Tank Byard and Young vaulted Rider back in front. Alvarez, who finished with a game-high 23 points, sliced to the basket with 1:01 remaining to put the Broncs back ahead, but they were late on a defensive rotation and fouled on the next possession, leading to a pair of free throws. Alvarez again tried to play the hero when he finished in the paint after a nice feed from Ruben Rodriguez, but, again, they couldn’t get the stop they needed. This time Winston, who had just five points in the game at that point, walked into a long 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds for a shot that gave the Jaspers (7-6, 2-2) their first victory in Lawrenceville since Feb. 13, 2004. Rider raced the ball down the court, but Manhattan used it foul to give to force a side-out and then knocked away the ensuing attempt to inbound the ball with 2.6 seconds left. “Those are the things where you either win or you lose,” Baggett said. “We lost. Extra rebounds, we turned the ball over when we are in control. Things that can’t happen when you’re trying to get off a losing streak and get better in the league.” Weeks Jr. ended up with 13 points and Zion Cruz scored 11 for Rider. Shaquil Bender and Marcus Gilyard had 18 each for Manhattan, Wesley Robinson added 17 and Sydnor scored 14. The Jaspers only go about six deep and were coming off a double-overtime loss at Siena on Friday night. Rider’s Tank Byard, left, goes up with the ball as Manhattan’s Will Sydnor, right, defends during a MAAC men’s basketball game on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) The Broncs were 0-3 in the league last season, but pulled themselves out of it to finish 12-8 and in fourth place. They were hoping a long layoff — this was their first action since Dec. 22 — led to rejuvenation, but instead it was more frustration. “We can’t hang our heads on this, we got to keep going,” Alvarez said. “It’s a long season, we got a lot of game left. … I felt like we started off really (well) and got rhythm, but then late game we had some bad mistakes that we can’t have.” Seventeen more in the MAAC  beginning on Friday at Canisius in the first leg of the Western New York swing, but it’s evident that it’s already getting late on this Rider season. “One game at a time,” Baggett said. “We just need to get one win to start changing the complexion of things. We were close. We played a lot better than what we had been playing.”