Washington, DC—December  28—Mike Phillips poured in a career- and game-high 24 points and Dadrian Collins and Alphonso Leary added 14 and 13 respectively, but it was a not enough to offset the three-point shooting of Rider as the Bison fell, 78-64 to the Broncs in a non-conference men's game at Burr Gymnasium.

Rider (9-5) jumped out to an early 11-1 lead before Howard (2-9)  countered with an 8-3 spurt to get within 14-9.  The Broncs, who came into the game ranked among the nation's top three-point shooting teams at 42 percent as a team, kept the young Bison at bay connecting on 6 of 10 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.  Justin Robinson, who led all scorers in the first half with 11 points and Novar Gadson, who tallied 8, combined to hit on 4 of 5 three pointers to help the visitors took a 39-28 lead at the half.

In the second half, the Broncs threatened to pull away, twice opening up 14-point leads, but each time Phillips, Collins and Leary would have an answer and get their team back to within striking distance.

Howard made a charge and reduced the deficit to nine at 71-62 with a little over four minutes left, but Gadson, Danny Stewart and Robinson teamed on a 7-2 run to put the game away.

 Phillips connected on 8 of 16 from the floor while Collins contributed 14 points and 6 rebounds and Leary chipped in with a career-best 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting while also grabbing 5 rebounds.

Leading scorer Antoine Dickerson, who came into the game as the team's leading scorer at 12.2 per game, finished with one point on a late free throw.

The balanced Broncs got 22 from Robinson, 15 from Gadson, 14 from Stewart and 11 from Brandon Penn, all coming in the second half.  Rider connected on 47 percent from the three-point line for the game, slightly above their season average.

NEXT UP: The Broncs host Manhattan on Monday at 7 pm while the Bison take on George Washington University on Sunday at 4 pm in Burr Gymnasium.