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BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Paced by one of its most dominating segments of the season, Manhattan (4-7) defeated Fordham (3-6) 71-57 before a crowd of 6,519 that included former New York City mayor and alum Rudy Giuliani to win the Battle of the Bronx at the Barclays Center.
Trailing 16-4 with 13:44 to play in the first half, the Jaspers outscored the Rams 48-14 over the next 21-plus minutes to turn a 12-point deficit into a 52-30 lead with 12:15 remaining in the game. During the pivotal push, Manhattan forced Fordham into 4-of-16 shooting, including nine-straight at one point, and 13 turnovers while shooting 56.7 percent (17-for-30) from the field, including 80.0 percent (8-for-10) from long range.
Senior Emmy Andujar (Bronx, N.Y. / Rice) earned the Mike Cohen MVP Award after posting a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds to go along with three assists. This marks Andujar's second Battle of Bronx MVP Award, also winning as a freshman.
Fordham scored the first 10 points of the game en route to jumping in front 16-4 with 13:40 to play in the opening period. However, the battle-tested Jaspers stuck to their script as junior Ashton Pankey (Bronx, N.Y. / Maryland) quelled the run with a jumper before classmate Shane Richards (New York, N.Y. / York Prep) canned a triple and freshman Zane Waterman (Winston Salem, N.C. / Fayetteville Academy) hit a pair from the line to trim the deficit to 16-11 with 11:11 remaining.
The Rams briefly answered before Manhattan ripped off nine-straight points in taking the lead for good at 22-20 with 6:40 to play. The advantage would grow to seven before the Jaspers headed into the break up 30-25.
Halftime did nothing to stop Manhattan's momentum as the Jaspers scored on five of their first six second-half possessions in crafting a half-opening 14-4 run that extended the lead out to 44-29 with 16:29 remaining in the game while forcing a Fordham stoppage.
Unfortunately for the Rams, the timeout did little to slow the momentum as Manhattan scored eight of the next nine points in opening up a game-high lead of 22 at 52-30 with 12:15 to play. All told, the Jaspers capped their 22-5 second-half opening spurt with a 14-1 run.
In true rivalry fashion, Fordham would trim the lead to nine with 1:33 to play only to see Manhattan end the game by making good on 9-of-10 from the line to put the exclamation on its 71-57 come-from-behind win.
Andujar (14), Pankey (12) and Richards (12) all hit for double-figures to pace a balanced offensive attack that saw nine of the 10 Jasper players score.
For the game, Manhattan shot 46.0 percent (23-for-50), including 50.0 percent (9-for-18) from long range, while forcing 18 Ram miscues that led to a 19-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
Fordham was paced by Thomas, who scored a team-best 14 points.
The Jaspers, which now lead the all-time series by a 56-51 count, returns to action on Friday, Jan. 2 at Niagara with opening tip slated for 7 p.m.
