Riverdale, N.Y. (February 25, 2007)- Five Manhattan players scored in double figures, as the Japers earned the #5 seed and a bye in the MAAC Tournament with a 71-65 win over Iona on Senior Night at Draddy Gym. Seniors Guy Ngarndi and Will Sabo were honored before the game. With the win, Manhattan improved to 13-16, 10-8 in MAAC play, while Iona falls to 2-27, 1-17 in MAAC play.
The teams traded points in the early going, until, with Iona holding a 3-2 lead with 17:13 to play in the opening stanza, Manhattan used an 8-0 run, capped by an Ngarndi layup, to take a seven point, 10-3, lead with 14:47 remaining in the first half. Six straight points by Iona brought the Gaels within two, 10-8, but Manhattan immediately pushed the lead back to seven, 15-8, with a 5-0 run of its own. The Jaspers still led by seven, 17-10, 8:58 before the break before Iona used a 7-0 run to knot the score at 17 with 6:30 left before halftime. Manhattan regained the lead on the next possessions and ended the half on an 18-7 run to take an 11 point, 35-24, lead into the locker room.
In the first half, the teams combined to tally just 12 field goals (nine for Manhattan compared to just three for Iona), but each team converted 17 free throws in the opening stanza.
Brandon Adams opened the second half with a jumper to open up the Jaspers' largest margin of the game, 13 points, making the score 37-24 with 19:39 left in the game. The lead remained at double digits for most of the second half, with Iona drawing as close as six, 57-51, with 4:40 to play before Darryl Crawford would bury a three pointer to push the lead back to nine. The Gaels would get no closer than eight the rest of the way until a Milan Prodanovic layup in the closing seconds provided the final margin.
Antoine Pearson paced the Jaspers offense with 16 points, and was joined in double figures by Adams (career-high 15 points, career-high matching and game-high seven rebounds), Crawford (14 points), Ngarndi (12 points, game-high seven rebounds), and Patrick Bouli (10 points).
Mike Harris scored a game-high 18 points to lead Iona.
The two teams combined for 58 fouls (29 each) and 88 free throws (46 for Iona, 43 for Manhattan) in another chapter in the Iona-Manhattan rivalry.
The Jaspers' 10 conference wins is the second most all time by a first year Manhattan head coach.
Manhattan earns the #5 seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament, and will take on #4 Siena College in a Quarterfinal game at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, in a game that will be televised on Fox Sports-New York.
