Albany, NY — Manhattan authored a late second half comeback to force overtime before sealing a 77-72 overtime win. The Jaspers trailed by as many as 13 with over 12 minutes to play before unleashing an 11-0 scoring run to help fuel the comeback.
The Jaspers took their first lead of the second half when Samba Diallo (Rufisque, Senegal) nailed a three from the corner to put Manhattan up 59-57 with 3:22 left in regulation. After three more lead changes, Ant Nelson hit a game-tying three with three seconds left that forced overtime.
Jose Perez (Bronx, NY) contributed nine of the 11 points of the scoring run that got the Jaspers back in the game. Manhattan as a team benefitted from some hot shooting in the second half as they shot 60 percent (12-20) from the field over the final 20 minutes.
Following his game-tying three at the end of regulation, Ant Nelson (New York, NY) carried over that momentum into the overtime period. Nelson opened the overtime period with a three pointer from the corner before tying the game at 69 on a layup with 2:03 left. The Jaspers sealed the win from the free throw line with their final eight points coming from the charity stripe.
Manhattan's first lead of the game came off a layup from Warren Williams (Kingston, Jamaica) that put the Jaspers up 11-9 with a little over 13 minutes to play in the first half. But Siena stayed resilient and went up by as much as 10 following a layup from Aidan Carpenter with 2:29 to play in the first half. The Jaspers would respond with a 6-0 run to close the half and only trail 32-28 at the break,
Nelson paced Manhattan in scoring with 24 points to go along with five steals. Perez continued his strong form of late by adding 23 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Following the win, Perez still has the third best assist average in the country with 7.3 helpers per game. Meanwhile, Williams was the third and final Jasper in double figures with 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Of his 16 points, 12 came in the first 20 minutes of action.
Colby Rodgers and Aidan Carpenter each had 12 points to lead the Siena offense while Jared Billups supplied 11. The Saints fall to 2-6 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Manhattan shot 50 percent (26-52) from the field while Siena shot the ball at a 47 percent (27-58) clip.
Manhattan improves to 6-1 on the year and 1-0 in MAAC play. The Jaspers are now off to their best start since the 2001-02 season when the team opened the season 12-1. The Jaspers' fast start to the 2021-22 campaign is their best start ever under Head Coach Steve Masiello.
"I love our momentum and I love how we're playing every day," Masiello said after the game. "We're growing and getting better every day."
The Jaspers will play their second game of the MAAC schedule when Quinnipiac (3-4, 0-1 MAAC) comes to Draddy for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off on Sunday, December 5.
