Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Manhattan men's basketball team went on a furious 13-0 run over the last 6:29 to battle back into the game, but came up just short falling to Niagara (7-13, 9-8) 74-72 on Senior Night at Draddy Gymnasium. Senior forward Brandon Adams posted the third double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) of his collegiate career in the Jaspers final home game of the regular-season.
"It's a tough loss, but we went out fighting," stated Adams. "We definitely had our chances, but our defense hurt us and we got killed in the paint."
The Jaspers faced a 15 point deficit after Purple Eagles' guard Tyrone Lewis's sixth 3-pointer of the game with 6:29 to go. Manhattan (10-18, 4-13 MAAC) took the devastating blow and used a pair of buckets and two free-throws each from guards Antoine Pearson and Rico Pickett, and then a dazzling 3-point play by Darryl Crawford to make it two possession ball game (73-69) with 2:10 left.
Pickett scored Manhattan's 13th unanswered point with 23 seconds remaining on a jumper from the corner to bring the Jaspers within 73-71 with 23 ticks on the clock. Although, Manhattan came up empty missing three opportunities to record the equalizer in the final 20 seconds.
"We played more aggressively in the second half when our backs were to the wall," explained fourth year head coach Barry Rohrssen. "We have to finish things off. For us tonight, it was too little too late."
Niagara shot a hot 64% (16-25) in the second half with Lewis posting 13 of his game-high 21 points. He shot 4-for-5 from downtown in the period. The Jaspers tried to keep up shooting 48.3% (14-29), but also relied on 13 of its 21 points off turnovers in the second half to play the Purple Eagles to an even 39-39 over the final 20 minutes.
The Jaspers were led by Crawford who poured in 18 points and Pickett who added 17 more. Pearson received the spot start tallying 13 points, three rebounds and two assists over 28 minutes of work. Manhattan senior Patrick Bouli also contributed to the valiant effort pumping in nine points and seven rebounds.
Niagara carried a 35-33 advantage into intermission after a first half which featured three ties and four lead changes. Crawford gave the Jaspers their first advantage with a cross-over and fade away jumper to go up 14-12, a lead the Jaspers maintained for the next nine minutes before the Purple Eagles final push to close the half.
Prior to the contest, Manhattan honored its five graduating seniors in a pregame ceremony for their final contest in Riverdale. Adams, Bouli, Crawford, Pearson and walk-on Victor Jackson were each presented with a commemorative framed jersey.
Manhattan looks to rebound on Sunday at Loyola in the regular-season finale. As result of the Greyhounds 74-62 loss to Canisius, the match up will be a preview of the MAAC Tournament Opening Round #8 vs. #9 match up next Friday at the Times Union Center in Albany at 7:30 p.m.
