The Central Arkansas Bears and the Rider Broncs meet in college basketball action from the National Basketball Arena on Saturday.
The Central Arkansas Bears will try to rebound from a 74-64 loss to Niagara in their last game. Eddy Kayouloud leads the Bears in scoring with 14.7 PPG along with 4.3 RPG while Camren Hunter has 13 PPG with 4.7 RPG and a team-high 5 APG. Collin Cooper has 11.3 PPG with 4.3 RPG and Masai Olowokore has 10.7 PPG with a team-high 7.7 RPG to lead the Bears on the glass and round out the scoring in double figures for Central Arkansas up to this point in the year. Jobe Klintman also has 8 PPG and 7 RPG as well on the year. As a team, Central Arkansas is averaging 77 PPG on 42.4% shooting from the field, 32.7% from three and 73.6% from the foul line this season.
The Rider Broncs will hope to bounce back from a 78-68 loss to Stetson last time out. Dwight Murray Jr. leads Rider in scoring and rebounding with 17.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 3 RPG while Allen Powell has 14.5 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Rider up to this point in the year. Mervin James also has 9 PPG with 4.5 RPG for the Broncs. As a team, Rider is averaging 73.3 PPG on 43.4% shooting from the field, 40.4% from three and 76.3% from the foul line this season.
Central Arkansas is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following a loss and 2-10-1 ATS in their last 13 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400 while the under is 11-2 in their last 13 neutral site games. Rider is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 neutral site games.
I get the case to be made either way in this game as these overseas matchups can be tricky. However, Central Arkansas has a history of perennially being a doormat for opposing teams and a decent showing on Friday doesn’t change my stance on that. Rider isn’t much better early on this season, but side by side I feel that they’re the better team by a fair margin and as such, I have to back them in this spot.