Box Score
BOCA RATON, FLA. - Jaspers' big men Demetrius Jemison and Rhamel Brown recorded double-doubles, however the Manhattan men's basketball team came up short in a 57-50 decision at Florida Atlantic (12-6) on Tuesday. Sophomore guard Greg Gantt led the Owls with 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting as Florida Atlantic improved to 6-1 at home this season. The Jaspers were without the services of freshman point guard Michael Alvarado who missed his third straight game with an injury.
Jemison recorded his second straight double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Brown notched his third of the season posting 10 points and tying a career-high with 13 boards. Brown corralled eight of his rebounds on the offensive glass as he leads the MAAC with 72 offensive boards (4.5 per game) this season.
Manhattan's (2-14) swarming defense held the Owls' nearly 13 points under their season scoring average of 69.1 points per contest. Seven Jaspers contributed to a balanced scoring effort in the first half as Manhattan trailed 28-26 at the break. The Jaspers held Florida Atlantic to just one field goal in the final three and a half minutes as they made an 8-2 surge capped by a pair free-throws by Nick Walsh to enter intermission trailing by two.
Manhattan junior guard Kidani Brutus scored seven of his nine points in the first 20 minutes. Walsh contributed seven points and three rebounds off the bench.
The Owls' got a spark in the second half from sophomore forward Jordan McCoy who scored two of four unanswered buckets less than three minutes into the stanza to put Florida Atlantic ahead by double-digits (36-26). The overall 19-7 run capped at the 12:41 with McCoy's jumper, which gave the Owls' their largest lead of the contest, 47-33.
McCoy buried all five of his field goal attempts in the second half to finish with 10 points and three rebounds.
The Jaspers gave it a resilient effort battling back into the contest behind a superb second half effort from Jemison who recorded nine points and five rebounds. Trailing by 10 points (53-43) with 4:18 remaining, Manhattan's defense tightened up and forced a pair of turnovers which the Jaspers turned into back-to-back buckets from Mohamed Koita and Brutus. Then 47 second later, Brown blocked his third shot of the game and the Jaspers regained possession to cut their deficit to four points (53-49) on George Beamon's slashing lay-up at 2:18.
After a missed 3-pointer from Gantt, the Jaspers had a golden opportunity to make it a one possession ballgame. However, Koita could not connect on a tip-in opportunity with 1:50 remaining, which allowed the Owls' to regain possession and put the game away Gantt's seventh field goal.
Florida Atlantic limited Beamon to seven points, snapping a seven game stretch of posting double-figures. He had two steals and two rebounds in 32 minutes of work.
Manhattan won the battle of the boards 39-36. The Jaspers perimeter defense yielded only four 3-pointers in 20 attempts, after allowing 24 3-pointers in the last two games.
Manhattan resumes MAAC action on Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Jaspers host Canisius at Draddy Gymnasium.
