Riverdale, N.Y. (February 11, 2007)- Manhattan came all the way back from a 14 point halftime deficit, but could not complete the comeback, dropping a 76-74 decision to Niagara this afternoon at Draddy Gym, when Patrick Bouli's putback at the buzzer hit the front of the rim.
The Jaspers scored the first four points of the game before the Purple Eagles used a 10-2 run to take a 10-6 lead with 16:42 to play in the opening stanza. Niagara then put together a 15-4 run to increase its lead to 15, 25-10, following a Tyrone Lewis three pointer with 11:03 to play in the first half. Manhattan was able to cut the lead to seven points, 31-24, after a jumper from Guy Ngarndi with 6:33 left, but the Purple Eagles immediately got the lead back to double-digits, leading by as many as 16, 43-27, with 51 seconds left before taking a 43-29 lead into the locker room.
The Jaspers came out of the break energized on both ends of the floor, scoring 17 of the first 20 points of the second half to knot the score at 46 following a Devon Austin layup with 15:06 to play. The game went back and forth until, with the score deadlocked at 52 with 11:10 to play, Niagara used a 6-0 run to take a 58-52 lead with 9:34 left in the game. Manhattan would then use a 7-1 run to pull even at 61 with 5:20 to play on an Arturo Dubois layup. The run would increase to 18-7 as the Jaspers would take a five point lead, 70-65, after Antoine Pearson converted two free throws with 1:32 to play. At that point, though, the Purple Eagles would counter by scoring the game's next nine points to regain the lead, as Niagara would hold a 74-70 lead with 14 ticks left. But, as they have done all year, the Jaspers would fight until the final whistle, as Pearson converted a conventional three-point play with seven seconds left to pull Manhattan within one, 74-73. Charron Fisher would make two free throws with six second left before the Purple Eagles would foul Darryl Crawford with two seconds left so that the Jaspers could not get off a game-tying three-point attempt. Crawford converted the first before intentionally missing the second in an attempt to tie the score, but Bouli's putback would not fall.
Austin would lead all scorers with 22 points, adding eight rebounds. Arturo Dubois would tally a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, and Guy Ngarndi would chip in with 12 points.
Fisher paced Niagara with 20 points.
Manhattan would win the battle of the boards, 47-30, including 24 on the offensive glass, and would convert 89.7% (26-29) from the line. After allowing Niagara to shoot 55.2% (16-29) from the field in the first half, the Jaspers held the Purple Eagles to 30.0% (6-20) in the final 20 minutes.
Manhattan will look to get back on track on Wednesday, February 14, traveling to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to take on Marist College in a Valentine's Day tilt slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.
