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2010 MAAC Tournament Men's Bracket 2009-2010 Men's Basketball Media Guide
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Manhattan men's basketball team saved its best performance of the year to earn a 94-79 victory over Loyola on Friday to secure a berth in the MAAC Tournament Quarterfinals. The Jaspers next opponent is top-seeded Siena (24-6) at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The contest will be televised live on MSG2 or fans can listen to Manhattan's free audio broadcast at GoJaspers.com.
Series History
Manhattan and Siena meet for the 78th time in series history. The Saints have won the last five contests, including a 66-58 victory on Jan. 24 in Riverdale. Jaspers' junior Rico Pickett led the scoring effort with 20 points, but Siena used double-doubles from big men Alex Franklin (27 pts., 10 reb.) and Ryan Rossiter (16 pts, 13 reb.) to get past Manhattan. In their last meeting at the Times Union Center on Jan. 18, Pickett exploded for a game-high 26 points shooting 10-for-19 from the field, including five 3-pointers. Senior Antoine Pearson added 10 points and three assists, while Brandon Adams and Darryl Crawford each had nine points. Manhattan's last victory over the Saints was on Feb. 18, 2008 in a 73-72 triumph at Draddy Gymnasium. Pearson buried six 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 20 points. It was Siena's last loss before falling to Villanova in the Second Round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
Of Note - Manhattan is 1-4 in its last five trips to the Times Union Center... The Jaspers last victory over the Saints in Albany was on Jan. 30, 2006 when Manhattan completed the regular-season sweep of Siena in a 63-58 win... Devon Austin '09 led the charge with 20 points and Arturo Dubois posted a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds).
Scouting Report
MANHATTAN
Manhattan is coming off a convincing 94-79 victory over Loyola on Friday in the MAAC Tournament First Round. The Jaspers used a career-high 33 points from Rico Pickett and the fourth double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) of the season for Darryl Crawford. Pickett (17.1 ppg) and Crawford (14.9 ppg) are the Jaspers' top two scoring threats as they each are averaging double-digits. Pickett, a junior transfer from Alabama, was the MAAC's scoring leader for the majority of the regular-season and the sharp shooter is ranked sixth in the conference with a 44% field goal mark. Pickett led all players in scoring during conference games with 19.7 points per game. Crawford, a senior from New York City, tallied four double-doubles during the season and led Manhattan in scoring 11 times. Crawford is the Jaspers leader in rebounding (6.2 rpg) and assists (2.2 apg). Senior forward Brandon Adams has helped anchor the Jaspers inside game averaging 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Manhattan's defensive oriented system ranked in the top half of the conference in field goal pct. defense (41.4%), blocks (3.8 bpg) and steals (7.8 spg). The Jaspers also led the league in turnover margin (+3.3).
SIENA
Siena has won 18 of its last 20 games. The Saints wrapped their third consecutive regular-season title with back-to-back blowouts of Rider and Marist last weekend. Siena is led by 2010 MAAC Player of the Year Alex Franklin and fellow seniors Ronald Moore and Edwin Ubiles. Ubiles is averaging 15.2 ppg and Moore leads the nation with 7.7 assists per game. Ryan Rossiter and Clarence Jackson round out the Saints All-MAAC starting line up. Rossiter is averaging a double-double (14.3 ppg, 10.8 rpg) and Jackson has posted 14.0 points per contest. Siena has won 35 straight games at the Times Union Center, the second longest home win streak in the nation. The Saints 17 conference wins set a MAAC record. Siena leads the league in scoring offense (75.6 ppg), scoring margin (+10.1 ppg), field goal pct. (46.3%), assists (14.6 apg) and steals 8.9 spg).
