East Rutherford, N.J. (November 14, 2005)- In an opening round game of the NIT Season Tip-Off, Seton Hall defeated Manhattan, 66-52, in a game played at the Continental Airlines Arena at the New Jersey Meadowlands.
CJ Anderson paced the Jaspers with a team-high 16 points.
Mike Konovelchick connected on a three pointer 1:11 into the game to give Manhattan early momentum, and the Jaspers led, 5-2, before Seton Hall used a 10-0 run to take a 12-5 lead with 14:07 remaining in the first half. The Pirates pushed the lead to 10, 19-9, before Manhattan responded with six straight points, highlighted by a long three from freshman
Devon Austin, to pull within four, 19-15, with 7:15 left before the break.
Seton Hall answered, pushing the lead to 11 before taking an eight point lead, 30-22, into the locker room.
In the second half, the Pirates extended the lead to 18 on two occasions before the Jaspers began to chip away at the lead.
Darren Johnson began the run with a layup, before back-to-back trifectas from
Jeff Xavier and Konovelchick dropped the lead to 10, 50-40, with 6:30 left. Two
Jason Wingate free throws brought the lead to single digits, 50-42, with 5:55 remaining, but Manhattan would get no closer the rest of the way.
Anderson added a co-team-high six rebounds to go along with five assists and three steals, while Konovelchick added nine points and two blocks. Wingate also scored nine points, and Johnson pulled down six caroms to match Anderson's team-leading total, as the Jaspers out-rebounded Seton Hall, 42-41, including 23-11 on the offensive glass.
The Pirate's Kelly Whitney led all scorers with 25 points, while Marcus Cousins pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.
Manhattan gets back in action on Saturday, November 26, as the Jaspers play their home opener, hosting George Mason at 7:00 p.m. at Draddy Gymnasium. The game will be televised on RNN.
