NEWARK, Del. — As one last 3-point heave slammed off the backboard and the final seconds ticked off on a seventh straight loss you couldn’t help but feel Rider was so close yet so far away. That’s because it came after the Broncs battled back from a 12-point second-half deficit to tie the scor e — the third time in the last five games they’ve been in a one-possession game with two minutes remaining — only for Delaware to come away with a 65-57 victory on Tuesday night at the Bob Carpenter Center. Coach Kevin Baggett, despite his team dropping to 1-9 and still without a Division I win, believes things are close to turning around. “I just told the guys that,” he said. “We just got to stay together, got to make a couple more plays, get a couple more stops.” That’s the hardest part of losing. How do you keep the heads from dropping? Sophomore guard Flash Burton thinks you can just look at last season when Rider endured an eight-game skid and was 0-4 in the MAAC before circling the wagons for nine league wins and a victory at the MAAC Tournament. “I just remind them that last year it was like this,” said Burton, who scored 16 points. “We (felt) like we were the worst team in the country. We were like the worst team in the country and we eventually made it back. We just got to stay with it. It’s life.” Rider’s Zion Cruz shoots the ball against Delaware during an NCAA men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Del. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Of course this is a different year with different personnel. Rider ranks as one of — if not the worst — offensive team in all of college basketball. It’s dead last in effective field goal percentage (40.5) and 358th out of 361 teams in scoring (58.8), field goal percentage (36.7) and 3-point percentage (26.6) Nothing it did on Tuesday night dispelled any of that. The Broncs got behind in the first half after a nearly six-minute scoring drought. They shot 36.1% from the floor and were 4-of-25 from beyond the arc. Burton was the only player to make a 3-pointer — he was 4-of-11 while the rest of the team went 0-for-14 — and they made just one of their 13 attempts in the second half. (Burton’s corner trey with 2:09 left to tie it at 55-all). The next sequence highlighted the things that go against you in a losing streak. After Christian Bliss scored to put Delaware back in front, Burton air-balled a 3-pointer but Davis Bynum looked like he saved the possession by grabbing the errant shot, but as he was falling out of bounds he threw the ball off a defender only for it to bounce into play and into the hands of a Blue Hens player. Bliss then scored again to push the margin back to four and even though Zion Cruz answered with a bucket to make it a one-possession game again, Cruz then got whistled for a foul when he and Bliss got their feet tangled up. Two free throw later and an empty offensive trip and the game was over. “A couple breakdowns at the wrong time,” Baggett said, “but I thought our guys did a good job of hanging in there and tied the score after we were down by 12.” Rider has one more non-conference game on Dec. 22 at VCU before beginning MAAC play in full at home against Manhattan. “Just stay together and understand it’s about MAAC play when the time comes,” Baggett said. “We got better today. Keep our heads up, keep fighting and try to figure this out until we get off this losing streak.” Rider’s AB Coulibaly, 10, drives to the basket against Delaware during an NCAA men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025 at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Del. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo) Perhaps two silver linings before that time comes: 1. The bottom half of the MAAC is weak. Six teams have a NET Ranking of 300 or higher. 2. Baggett may have found his best five on Tuesday night in Flash Burton, Zion Cruz, AB Coulibaly, Shemani Fuller and Davis Bynum. Then sprinkle in some of big man Mohamad Diallo, who is better in short bursts off the bench, and there’s something to build with. Cruz returned from a two-game absence due to a groin injury and scored all eight of his points in the second half. To the second point, that’s a group that hadn’t played any minutes together until Tuesday night. Bynum provided eight points in 24 minutes, Fuller had 10 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes and Coulibaly continues to look more comfortable with each passing game. “We (got to) stay in the gym, you just let the coaches coach and the players got to play,” Burton said. “There’s no in between. You’re kind of seeing it and we’re getting everybody to buy in. We’re kind of happy about that.” What they still need, more than anything, is a win. “It starts with me,” Baggett said. “If I got my head up then why should they have their head down.” ...read more read less