RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The 2022-23 Manhattan men's basketball season ended in the Opening Round of the MAAC Tournament in Atlantic City. Manhattan finished the year 10-10 in MAAC play and 12-18 overall.
The Jaspers earned the No. 6 seed in the MAAC Tournament after posting the .500 mark in league play. Manhattan faced No. 11 seed Marist in the Opening Round of the MAAC Tournament.
Manhattan's sixth seed this season was the best MAAC Tournament seed since earning the five seed in 2018.
"This year was one of perseverance, brotherhood, and growth," said interim head coach
RaShawn Stores. "Our ability to stick together no matter what took place and the individual growth these young men had on and off the court was extraordinary. The strides they made will ultimately propel them to be successful in life."
Stores picked up his first career win against Mount St. Vincent, 86-39. Stores' first win against Division I competition came against Army West Point in London as part of the inaugural London Basketball Classic. Manhattan made the defensive stop it needed to leave London with a 72-71 win against the Black Knights. The Jaspers forced Army West Point's Jalen Rucker into a floater from the left elbow that was no good at the buzzer.
After the win, Stores said, "We fell short on Thursday, and today, we learned from that. We know it is part of the process. I am very happy with this team. This was a great experience. We got to learn about ourselves and the culture in London. That is how you grow in life, share knowledge."
Manhattan started MAAC play 2-0 after wins against Fairfield and Marist. The Jaspers hit 14 3-pointers—one off the single-game program record—in the 80-69 win at Marist.
The Jaspers played five overtime games this season, with three coming in league play. Manhattan went 2-1 in the three overtime games in MAAC play. Those wins came in back-to-back games at Canisius and at home against Siena.
Stores and the Jaspers didn't panic when they found themselves trailing in games. Five of the Jaspers' 10 MAAC wins came when trailing at the half. Manhattan trailed at the half and came to back to win against Army, Fairfield, Niagara, at Mount St. Mary's, Siena, and at Quinnipiac. The Jaspers came back from trailing by 21 points at Quinnipiac to win 72-70.
Ant Nelson hit the game-winning floater as time expired.
After the 67-66 win at Siena, in which the Jaspers trailed by double digits in the second half, Stores said, "This group has done a great job of battling adversity all year. We have a mentally tough group, and we don't panic in tough situations; it brings us closer together."
The win at Siena swept the season series against the Saints for the Jaspers.
Nick Brennen hit the game-winning 3-pointer in overtime of the Jaspers' win at home against the Saints on Feb. 3.
Another top moment for the Jaspers this season was
Daniel Schreier's return to the court after 1,406 days in Manhattan's game at Saint Peter's on Dec. 30. Schreier then closed the regular season with a career-high 10 points in the win at Siena.
A pair of Jaspers collected All-MAAC honors.
Ant Nelson was named First Team All-MAAC, and
Josh Roberts collected Third Team All-MAAC honors and was named MAAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
Nelson was one of two players in the MAAC to average over 15 points and four assists per game this season. Nelson had nine 20-point games this season and 17 games with at least five assists.
Roberts led the MAAC in blocks this season with 1.8 and added four more in the Jaspers' loss to Marist in the First Round of the MAAC Tournament. Roberts had nine games this season of at least three blocks and five games with multiple steals.
During the year, two Jaspers reached 1,000 career points. Nelson reached 1,000 career points against Canisius and surpassed 1,000 points at Manhattan in the MAAC Tournament game against Marist.
Samir Stewart reached 1,000 career points with a second-half go-ahead 3-pointer at Siena.
Manhattan also saw one program record fall and one player move into second place all-time in a category.
Roberts set a new program record for field goal percentage in a single season. Roberts finished the year at 70.2-percent from the floor. That led the MAAC and was second nationally. Roberts only had four games this season where he missed four or more shots.
Samir Stewart finished his career with the Green and White this season. The Florida native finished with 220 3-pointers made after hitting 62 this season. The 220 makes puts Stewart second all-time in career 3-pointers made, only to Shane Richards' 312. Stewart and Richards are the only Jaspers to hit over 200 3-pointers in a career at Manhattan.
In the classroom, the Jaspers also performed well.
Logan Padgett was named College Sports Communicators Academic All-District. Padgett and
Aryan Arora,
Elijah Buchanan,
Matthew Glassman,
Daniel Hackett, and
Daniel Schreier earned a place on the MAAC All-Academic Team. The Jaspers' six honorees for the MAAC All-Academic team were second-most in the MAAC to Mount St. Mary's seven.
For the latest on the Manhattan College men's basketball program, follow the Jaspers on Twitter @JaspersMBB and Instagram @Jaspers.MBB.
