BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ Rick Smith scored 18 points and Drew Samuels added 17 as Marist struggled past Rider 70-58 Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament.

Marist (17-12), seeded No. 4, will meet the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between top-seeded Iona and Loyola of Maryland, which was played later Saturday. The victory avenged a 100-82 loss at Rider (16-12) two weeks ago.

This was the first meeting between the teams in the MAAC tournament since the former Northeast Conference rivals joined the conference four years ago, and it was a sloppy affair. Marist scored 28 points off Rider's 22 turnovers, and that spelled the difference.

Mario Porter, the MAAC's second-leading scorer, led the Broncs with 20 points and Jon McClark had 11 and 10 rebounds.

Nick Eppehimer had 10 points and seven rebounds, and Matt Tullis had 10 rebounds and six points for the Red Foxes.

Marist fell behind 10-2 at the outset, but three baskets by Samuels helped build a 12-10 lead with 13:34 remaining in the opening half, and they never trailed again.

The Broncs, who trailed 37-31 at halftime, fell behind 42-33 on Smith's 3-pointer less than three minutes into the second period but managed to stay within striking distance until the final two minutes.

A bank shot by Porter and a free throw by Alwyn Curtis pulled the Broncs within 58-55 with 6:37 left. But Rider did not score on its next three possessions _ Laurence Young was called for a charge and missed a 3-pointer, and Mike Wilson missed another 3 _ and Marist pulled away again.

Eppehimer converted a bank shot from in close, Tullis hit a layup off a feed from Sean Kennedy, and Eppehimer's follow off a pass in the lane from Tullis made it 64-55 with 3:32 remaining.