Dragons Slip Past Rider, 71-67, in Overtime For Fourth Straight Victory

Saturday, December 11

Daskalakis Athletic Center

4:00

Drexel University

Rider

Fouch poured in 27 points, including five in the last 25 seconds of overtime

Dragons Slip Past Rider, 71-67, in Overtime For Fourth Straight Victory

12/11/2010 7:09:48 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Philadelphia - Chris Fouch knocked down a three-pointer from the corner with 25.2 seconds remaining in overtime to pull Drexel back from the brink in a 71-67 victory over Rider (6-5). Fouch led all scorers with 27 points, including his late three-pointer that gave the Dragons (6-1) their first lead in overtime, he also converted two free throws with four seconds left to put the game out of the Broncs' reach. Samme Givens turned in an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double, his fourth of the season, and Dartaye Ruffin came off the bench to pull down 10 rebounds. Brandon Penn led Rider with 18 points and seven rebounds.

Drexel led by as much as seven points in the second half before Rider's Mike Ringgold ignited a run by scoring six straight points for the Broncs to draw the game within one point, 58-57 with 3:38 to play. A layup by Givens followed by a pair of Fouch free throws pushed Drexel's lead back to five points with just under two minutes to play.

With 22 seconds in regulation that lead had shrunken to a 63-61 Drexel advantage, and it completely dissipated when Justin Robinson freed himself in the lane for a 15-footer. The Dragons ran a play for Givens in the post but his shot was blocked and a follow by Gerald Colds fell short of the mark, sending the game into overtime.

Rider scored the first four points in overtime and, after a driving layup by Frantz Massenat, the Dragons scored the final eight to wrangle their fourth straight victory.

Drexel shot just 39.3 percent in the game, as compared to the Broncs who shot 50 percent in the second half and finished the contest making 44.4 percent of their attempts from the field. The Dragons won the rebounding battle by a sizeable margin, 55-34 and pulled down 16 boards on the offensive glass to Rider's six.

The Dragons benefitted from 19 points at the free-throw line, while the Broncs made just 9-of-20 from the stripe and shot just 1-for-6 in the final three minutes of regulation and in overtime, which proved to be costly.

Drexel returns to action next week when the Dragons play at Big East power Louisville on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 9:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised on ESPNU.