LAWRENCEVILLE — For as mightily as Rider has struggled in this miserable season at least the players are still competing. It’s why the Broncs were down five with 5:52 remaining despite a rough shooting performance and seemingly a stop away from making it a granstand finish inside Alumni Gymnasiu m. Instead, as it has gone all season, there were too many breakdowns and Rider was punished for them in a 65-55 loss to Mount St. Mary’s on Friday night. “We were right there,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “Our guys are competing but we gave up two 3s and next thing you know we are out of the game again and they are up 11. That’s how fast the game swung.” The Broncs (3-21, 3-13) lost their third straight and are all but mathematically eliminated from MAAC Tournament contention with five games remaining. Abodou Khadre Kébé paced the Mount (12-15, 8-8) with 15 points, including a highlight-reel dunk in which he drove baseline and threw it down over a late-rotating defender. Kebe also splashed a big 3 to push the lead back to eight with 5:28 remaining. Trey Deveaux added 12 points and Xavier Lipscomb finished with 11. Lipscomb scored six straight points — first on a three-point play and then on wide-open wing trey after Rider over-helped — to put the Mount up 62-49 with 3:03 remaining. Lipscomb had a career-high 20 in the first meeting between the teams. Zion Cruz scored a game-high 22 points for Rider, but Flash Burton struggled to eight points on 3-of-16 shooting and was benched for the final eight minutes. The Broncs showed some life once freshman Jamir McNeil was inserted into the game and the full-court was ramped up. Rider turned the Mount over 18 times and finished 21-9 in points off turnovers, but they were also out-rebounded 39-28 and shot a woeful 2-of-14 from deep. “We pressed early, too. It was more of a soft press as opposed to an aggressive press. You are just trying to read the game and trying not to open up and expose as much,” Baggett said. “I’m not playing as many guys so you just got to be careful with what presses you are going to run throughout the entire game. When we cut it to (five), I thought we were right there and then we give up a 3. Those things hurt.” With elimination a mere formality now, all they can do is keep showing up for the last five games. “We just got to keep competing, keep coming to practice, trying to stack days,” Cruz said. “That’s all we can do for the last five games.” ...read more read less