LAWRENCEVILLE — Flash Burton has never experienced anything like this.
Everything that can go wrong has this basketball season.
You can now add equaling the program record for most losses in a season to this miserable winter after Rider fell, 72-66, to Canisius on Friday night at Alumni Gymnasium.
“It definitely burns for sure,” Burton said after his 22 points weren’t enough in a game the Broncs never led. “When you are tying your shoes for the pregame, you are like ‘Dang, I just want to get one, just want to change it.’”
Rider (3-23, 2-15), which was eliminated from MAAC Tournament contention last week, hasn’t lost this many games in a season since it went 5-23 in 1988-89.
There are still three games remaining.
“Definitely one of the hardest years to play basketball for sure,” Burton said. “You just got to be grateful to wake up every day. That’s how I look at it — wake up every day, come to practice and get better somehow.”
Canisius (9-19, 4-13) scored the game’s first 11 points and never trailed — although the Broncs did tie it twice in the second half — as it snapped an 11-game skid.
Bryan Ndjonga scored 21 points and Kahlil Singleton, who made his first five attempts from beyond the arc in the fist half, finished with 20.
Ndjonga connected on three huge treys in the second half that put the game away. That included a corner triple after Rider had knotted it at 55-all and then back-to-back 3s sandwiched around a Broncs turnover to for an eight-point edge with 3:09 remaining.
Those are the plays that have gone against Rider all season long.
“Not being able to change that,” coach Kevin Baggett said. “Getting a stop and then we had a chance to go down and take the lead a couple times and missed layups.”
While the losses have mounted, Baggett insisted it isn’t for a lack of effort.
“We fought our way back into the game, we tied the game, we had chances to win the game,” Baggett said. “When you are having those kind of seasons those breaks don’t fall for you. Sometimes you got to make your own breaks and that’s been our downfall this year.
“It’s not these guys not competing or showing up every day and giving us everything that they got. They have not quit. As I said to you weeks ago, I didn’t think these guys would quit. They are prideful guys. We want to win. We still want to win.”
