Second-Half Run Lifts Manhattan To 68-57 Win At Saint Peter's

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Jersey City, NJ - Manhattan opened the second half with a 23-4 run and never looked back en route to posting a decisive 68-57 win over Saint Peter's in MAAC action at the Yanitelli Center.
 
During the game-changing spurt, the Jaspers forced nine errant shots and eight miscues that led to 16 points as the visitors held the Peacocks without a field goal for over nine-plus minutes in jumping out to an insurmountable 51-33 advantage with 9::23 to play.

Saint Peter's quickly answered with nine-straight points in slicing the deficit in half with 6:35 remaining.

However, that would be as close as the Peacocks would get as Manhattan put the game away at the line by going 10-of-12 the rest of the way with senior Zavier Turner (Indianapolis, IN / Ball State) scoring eight of his game-high 20 points from the stripe. The Ball State transfer also handed out a career-high 10 assists en route to picking up his first career double-double.
 
It was also the first point/assists double-double by a Jasper since Von Damien Green had 12 points and 11 assists against Canisius on January 15, 2001.

Manhattan made good on 41.9 percent (18-of-43), including a blistering 54.5 percent (12-of-22) from deep, and 90.9 percent (20-of-22) from the line in moving to 10-10 and 5-3 in the MAAC while Saint Peter's falls to 8-11 and 2-6 in the league.

The first half was a defensive affair with the teams forcing a combined 20 turnovers as the Peacocks took a scant 29-28 advantage into the break. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Turner's double-double was the first point/assists double-double since Von Damien Green had 12 points and 11 assists against Canisius on January 15, 2001.
- Turner notched his 17th career 20-point performance.
- Turner is now averaging 25.0 ppg and 8.0 apg over two career games at the Yanitelli Center while shooting 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from the floor, including 75.0 percent (6-of-8) from long range.
- Manhattan forced 22 turnovers en route to moving to 24-12 under Head Coach Steve Masiello when pressuring the opposition into at least 20.
- The Jaspers also moved to 42-5 when limiting the opposition to less than 60 points during Masiello's seven-year tenure.
- Manhattan placed four players in double-figures in scoring for the fourth time in eight MAAC games.
- Only once during the Jaspers' eight MAAC games has the team leading at the break ended up victorious.
- Manhattan limited Saint Peter's without a field goal for over 10:21, spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the second.
- Senior Rich Williams (Brooklyn, NY / Vermont Academy (VT)) canned a game-high four three pointers en route to matching his season average with 14 points.
- Classmate Zane Waterman (Winston-Salem, NC / Fayetteville Academy) scored 13 points with eight rebounds while cracking the 1,100-point barrier for his career.
- Sophomore Pauly Paulicap (Elmont, NY / Harcum College) reached double-figures in points for the third-straight game with 10 points, fueled by a perfect 6-for-6 showing at the line.
- Manhattan improves to 77-52, all-time, against Saint Peter's while Masiello is now 11-4 against the Jersey City-based institution.
- This was the only regular season meeting of the year between the teams.
- Samuel Idowu had 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to pace the Peacocks.

UP NEXT
- Manhattan will play at Niagara on Wednesday, January 24 at 7:00 pm.