Riverdale, N.Y. (January 30, 2007)- Darryl Crawford hit a floater in the lane with seven seconds left to give Manhattan its first lead of the second half, and Devon Austin blocked Jared Jordan's layup with 0.8 seconds left to seal the win as the Jaspers grabbed sole possession of second place in the MAAC with a dramatic, 75-74, win over preseason conference favorite Marist tonight at Draddy Gym. With the win, Manhattan improves to 11-10, 8-2 in MAAC play, while the Red Foxes fall to 15-7, 7-4 in MAAC play.
In an eerie coincidence to the Jaspers' last two home games, their opponent raced out to an early lead, as Marist hit two three pointers in the first 1:39 to open up a quick, 6-0, lead, but unlike the last two home games, Manhattan would not fall into an early hole, scoring the next five points to draw within one, 6-5, with 16:53 to play in the first half. Marist led, 9-5, before Manhattan ran off 10 straight points, with eight coming from Patrick Bouli, to take the Jaspers largest lead of the game, six points, as Manhattan held a 15-9 lead 13:49 before the break. The Jaspers held the lead until a Will Whittington three-ball knotted the score at 19, and the two teams traded baskets until another Whittington three pointer gave Marist the lead back, 24-23, with 7:49 left before the break. The Red Foxes would hold the lead the rest of the half, leading by as many as nine, 39-30, with 3:12 to play before taking an eight point, 45-37, lead into the locker room.
Marist scored the first two points of the second half to open up its largest lead of the game, 11 points, after a Ryan Stilphen conventional three point play made the score 48-37 just 10 seconds into the second half. Manhattan would respond with a 10-0 run, with six points coming from Guy Ngarndi, to cut the deficit to a single point, 48-47, with 16:26 to play. The two sides would trade baskets for much of the next six minutes, until, with Marist holding a one point, 58-57, lead, the Red Foxes would compile a 6-0 run to open up a seven point, 64-57, lead with 7:19 to play. The lead stood at four, 67-63, with 5:14 to play, before Crawford brought the near-capacity crowd to its feet with a follow dunk to cut the deficit in half. Marist would not relinquish the lead, and push the lead back to four following Whittington's sixth and final three pointer of the night, but Antoine Pearson would respond with a three of his own from the right corner to cut the lead to a single point with 54 ticks remaining. Following a Jordan miss, the Jaspers held for the last shot, and Crawford created off the dribble, penetrating the lane and connecting on the runner.
Crawford and Arturo Dubois each tallied 13 points to pace the Jaspers, with Crawford adding four assists, and Dubois adding seven rebounds. Joining that duo in double figures were Bouli (11 points, game-high eight rebounds, six assists, zero turnovers), Ngarndi (10 points, five rebounds), and Pearson (10 points, six assists).
Whittington led all scorers with 21 points, while Jordan tallied a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists.
Manhattan returns to action on Friday, February 2, traveling to Western New York to take on Niagara University. The game, slated to begin at 7:00 p.m., will be televised on ESPNU.
