SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — When Danny Stewart walked of the court after having fouled out in his final college game, head coach Kevin Baggett grabbed him and gave him warm embrace.

Both player and coach got emotional as one of the most underrated careers in Rider history came to an end.

“It was a lot of emotions flowing, knowing it was my last time wearing a Rider uniform,” the senior forward from Philadelphia said. “As the time was going down, I was just embracing everything, just remembering my four years and how I’ve grown and how they’ve helped me grow.”


Stewart finished his career in Lawrenceville with 1,436 points, ranking him 13th on the program’s all-time list. He also grabbed 890 career rebounds, placing him only behind NBA lottery pick Jason Thompson.

His good friend and fellow senior Anthony Myles finished right behind him in 14th place with 1,417 points.

“It’s been a great four years, meeting all my teammates over the years and forming a brotherhood with so many guys,” Myles said. “That’s kind of what I’m taking away from this — forming a family. There are people I can contact if I need anything. It’s tough coming off a loss like this, but I know we’ll keep our heads up. We have another career coming up, so looking forward to that.”

Stewart, who lives with Myles and the team’s third senior, Tommy Pereira, echoed that.

“We all came in as strangers,” Stewart said. “We stayed all four years and grew each time even with the guys who have been here and are gone and the guys who are here now. We’re all a tight-knit group. I know Tommy and Anthony will have good careers after this and so will I.”

Baggett began his postgame press conference by thanking his seniors.

“I didn’t want it to end for these guys,” Baggett said. “It’s a little emotional for me because I love these guys. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do.

“Just the time we spent together, (Danny’s) like my son — same with Anthony and Tommy. It’s just not about a basketball game at the end of the day for me.”