Manhattan Basketball

The end of a long, mainly miserable season for Manhattan is finally in sight.

The Jaspers (5-21, 3-12 MAAC) will be coming off what was possibly their best performance of the year when they beat Siena by a score of 84-81.

Here are the seniors that will be honored at tonight's game.

Andrew Gabriel

Gabriel had high hopes as a freshman after being named to the New York City team for the Jordan Classic in 2007. Gabriel struggled early in his career, but he has improved as a post player and as a ball-handler while being with the Jaspers.

Gabriel looked set for a breakout year in 2010-11 with a 19 point performance against NJIT in the first game, but he has struggled since, not scoring in double digits since November 20.

Nick Walsh

The Bronx native became a fan favorite as a freshman walk-on. Since then, Walsh has improved into an everyday player, although he does not start. Walsh's Riverdale friends will probably boost up the attendance for tonight's game.

Demetrius Jemison

Jemison joined the Jaspers in December of this season as a graduate student who played his first three years of basketball at Alabama. The transfer has started every game since becoming eligible and has scored in double digits eight times. Jemison has also recorded four double-doubles. 

Keys for Iona

Win the battle on the boards:

Manhattan has kept games close with offensive rebounding. Iona has to fight hard on the defensive boards to limit Manhattan's second chances.

Convert at the foul line:

In Manhattan's last game against Siena, Siena shot itself in the foot by missing a bunch of early free throws, and that could have been the difference in a game decided by three points. Manhattan is good enough at home to stay close with any MAAC team, and free throws can easily be the difference between a Gaels win and a Gaels loss.

Make three-pointers:

Iona is not a great three-point shooting team, but the Gaels have a few players that can do some damage from beyond the arc. Manhattan does not have strong perimeter defense. Iona should use that as an advantage and take its share of shots from three-point range.

In the first meeting between the Gaels and the Jaspers, Iona shot a lot of three-point shots. However, it eventually paid off as the Gaels hit 10 three-point shots, three above their average for the year. 

Keys for Manhattan

Don't fall far behind:

In multiple games, Manhattan has fallen behind early in the game, including the first meeting against Iona when the Gaels started the game on a 17-2 run.

In games like this, the Jaspers have usually managed to come back and at least make the game close for part of the second half. However, when they fall behind so much, they run out of gas before they can actually take a lead and command of the game.

If Manhattan can stay within single digits for the whole game, their chances of winning increase.

Offensive rebounding:

Manhattan's strength on the offensive glass has helped keep them in games at points this season. Against a superior team like Iona, the Jaspers will need to stay strong on the offensive glass.

Beamon and Brutus should have the same pre-game meal as they had on Sunday: 

Whatever those two did to prepare for Sunday's game against Siena, they should keep it up. Both scored career-highs against the Saints (Beamon with 35, Brutus with 20), and having consistent scorers like them could be all the Jaspers need to win a few games down the stretch.

My pick: Iona by 7

It is pretty embarrassing when there are more Siena fans at a game being played at Manhattan. However, the embarrassment pays off when you get to watch all of them leave in disappointment. 

Manhattan (5-21, 3-12 MAAC) set the tone early with a 14-2 run in the first six minutes. Clarence Jackson got Siena (10-15, 7-8 MAAC) going and the Saints managed to cut the Manhattan lead down to two points with six minutes left in the first half.

Manhattan upped the lead to 33-26 on George Beamon's three-point play in the final seconds of the first half.

Manhattan came out strong to start the second half. A red hot Beamon scored 11 points in a 16-7 run by the Jaspers.

The Jaspers continued to push the lead all the way up to 18 points on a pair of Beamon free throws with just over six minutes remaining.

However, trailing 70-55 with less than five minutes left, Siena made its move. A 6-0 Saints run cut the lead down to nine points.

After a few possessions of trading baskets, Siena cut the lead down to three points on a Kyle Downey three-pointer with 35 seconds remaining in the game. 

Manhattan junior Kidani Brutus then split a pair of free throws. Trailing by four points, Jackson's third and final three-pointer of the game cut the Jasper lead to 82-81.

Manhattan left the door wide open with Demetrius Jemison missing a pair of free throws. However, sophomore O.D. Anosike grabbed the rebound and looked for Downey for the outlet pass. Anosike's pass went off of Downey's hands and into the hands of Manhattan's Mohamed Koita.

Taking advantage of a big break, Brutus went back to the line and made a pair of free throws.

In need of a defensive stand, Manhattan came through. Although poor rebounding gave Siena three chances at a game-winning shot, the Saints never got off a clean look to tie the game, giving Manhattan the 84-81 victory.

Out of all of Manhattan's games this year, this one showed the most positives. Not only did the Jaspers put up good numbers, but they also played a smart game.

The Jaspers had their best offensive showing of the game, beating the team's previous high of 80 points. They also shot a very strong 50.9 percent from the field.

Brutus put up good numbers. The junior scored a career-high 20 points and tied a career-high of five three-pointers. Brutus got to the line and made his shots count, making 5-of-6 free throws. 

Demetrius Jemison and Rhamel Brown put together solid performances. Jemison had eight points and nine rebounds while also dishing out four assists. 

Brown spent part of the game in foul trouble, but the made his 23 minutes count. He scored four points on 2-for-2 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. The freshman, who entered the day at No. 35 in the nation in blocked shots, swatted two of Siena's shots.

Beamon was obviously the best part of Sunday's game. With a career-high 35 points, Beamon followed up a strong performance against Fairfield on Friday when he posted a career-high seven assists. Beamon shot 12-for-19 from the field and hit his first three-pointer since December 11 against Binghamton.

The Jaspers' coaching was also better than usual, although nothing special. The Manhattan offense was much more lively and Rohrssen actually ran some plays for his players.

For Siena, Jonathan Breeden led with 20 points. In his last two games, the freshman has scored a total of 44 points.

Ryan Rossiter and O.D. Anosike each had double-doubles for the Saints. Rossiter had 19 points, with 13 coming in the second half, and 15 rebounds. Anosike had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Jaspers will be back in action on Wednesday against Iona for senior night. After the game against Iona, they will play three road games before heading to Connecticut for the MAAC Tournament. 

More disappointment came to Draddy Gymnasium on Friday night. As Manhattan brought in its third highest attendance of the season, the Jaspers (4-21, 2-12 MAAC) took on first place Fairfield (19-5, 12-2 MAAC) for the second time this season. 

The two teams first met in late January. In that meeting, the Stags held off an upset bid from Manhattan, using a run in the final minute to pick up a 61-59 victory. In sum, the rematch was similar.

The game stayed close through most of the first half, but a 16-5 run from Fairfield opened up a lead for the Stags. The Stags would take a 36-27 lead into halftime.

An energetic spurt from Manhattan early in the second half brought the Jaspers to what would be their first and only lead of the game. George Beamon's layup with 11:30 left to play put the Jaspers up 45-44. Fairfield countered with a short run of its own to push the lead back up to seven points. 

One more run by Manhattan in the final few minutes brought the Jaspers within three points. Three straight jump shots, two from Kidani Brutus and one from Demetrius Jemison, cut the lead to 59-56. However, Manhattan failed to score in the final 1:45, while Fairfield made six of seven free throws in that time span. 

Despite a solid effort from Manhattan, the Jaspers dropped another a score of 65-56.

As usual, there were a couple of bright spots in the Jaspers' play. 

Although it took a while for Beamon to get going in the scoring problem, the sophomore dished out a career-high seven assists. Beamon had never had more than three assists in a game before Friday. He has tended to be a little selfish with his play in the past. More outings like tonight could help the Jaspers on offense.

As usual, freshman forward Rhamel Brown had a very strong outing. Brown, who holds the potential to become one of the nation's best shot blockers, had three blocks and played strong defense. The true freshman scored eight points on 3-for-3 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.

On the downside, foul trouble and turnovers killed Manhattan. The Jaspers had 12 turnovers as a team, and three players who each had three. Consistently, the Jaspers managed to turn the ball over when they desperately needed a basket.

For Manhattan, both Kidani Brutus and Brown were in foul trouble. Brutus sat through most of the first half with two early fouls and eventually fouled out in the final minute. Brown had to be extra careful on defense at some points due to his foul trouble. 

For Fairfield, Derek Needham led the Stags with 23 points. Needham made 4-of-7 three-pointers and shot 9-for-11 from the foul line.

The Jaspers will play their next game against Siena (10-14, 7-7 MAAC) on Sunday. 

There has not been much for Manhattan basketball to smile about this year. But Barry Rohrssen and his Manhattan left the McCann Centeron in Poughkeepsie smiling after Mike Alvarado's heave from beyond halfcourt banked in as the buzzer sounded.

 Manhattan (4-18, 2-9 MAAC) was just coming off a heartbreaking loss at first place Fairfield. The Jaspers held a five-point lead in the final two minutes. However, missed free throws and a late turnover left the door wide-open for the Stags. Fairfield point guard Derek Needham hit a three-pointer with eight seconds left to send the Jaspers to another loss.

On Sunday, it looked like Manhattan was headed towards another close loss on the road. The Jaspers stuck close with Marist throughout the game, never trailing by more than six points. 

The Jaspers held all the momentum after a 6-0 run on back-to-back three-point plays with 2:22 remaining. On the following Marist possession, Marist's Dorvell Carter nailed a three-pointer to put Marist (4-19, 3-8 MAAC) back on top by two points. 

The Jaspers could not capitalize on their next three possessions, missing all three of their field goal attempts. 

But just as Manhattan did against Fairfield, Marist left the door open for what would end in a miracle win for the Jaspers and a heartbreaking loss for the Red Foxes. In the final minute, Marist shot 0-for-2 from the foul line and turned the ball over once. 

After a timeout by Manhattan with two seconds left, the Jaspers were set to inbound the ball from behind Marist's basket and were set to go the length of the floor. 

Sophomore George Beamon inbounded to Mike Alvarado, who took a pair of dribbles and then released the ball from beyond the midcourt stripe. After the shot banked in, the Manhattan bench rushed onto the court to where Alvarado stood on the opposite sideline. 

Maybe Gordon Hayward should have taken lessons from the freshman from All Hallows High School.

For the Jaspers, Beamon led in scoring with 13 points. The sophomore turned in his seventh double-double of the season with 10 rebounds. 

Aside from Alvarado's miracle game-winner, the true freshman dished out six assists and did not turn the ball over.

Kidani Brutus and Djibril Coulibaly each scored 12 points for Manhattan. Coulibaly's 12 points was a career-high for the junior. 

Demetrius Jemsion also had a strong game for the Jaspers with nine points and eight rebounds. 

Carter led Marist with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Devin Price had 13 points and five assists.

The Jaspers look to carry the momentum from Alvarado's shot into Friday night's game at Siena (9-12, 6-5 MAAC). The Saints are coming off of a win over Niagara on Sunday. 

High hopes set in for Manhattan fans when Barry Rohrssen took hold of the reins of one of the best mid-major programs in the nation back in 2006. Rohrssen had a reputation as an outstanding recruiter, and he seemed like the type of coach that could keep Manhattan's status as a dominant mid-major.

Those hopes are long gone now.

Rohrssen had a winning season only once in his first four years with Manhattan, and three more losses this season will make it impossible for the Jaspers to finish with a winning record entering the MAAC conference tournament.

This year had the potential to be Manhattan's year. The Jaspers had their most talented team since 2005-06 when they went to the second round of the NIT. 

After a 2-0 start to the 2010-11 season, Manhattan has lost 13 straight games—and it's not as though Manhattan has played an especially tough schedule. Manhattan is No. 302 in RPI and 0-5 in the MAAC.

On Tuesday night, the Jaspers will play at Florida Atlantic (11-6, 4-0 Sun Belt). The Owls opened the season at 3-4 but have been playing very well since then.

Florida Atlantic started a winning trend on November 30 with a road win over Mississippi State. The Owls also beat South Florida from the Big East and then went 3-2 on a road trip. The Owls enter the match against Manhattan in first place in the Sun Belt East.

Manhattan has managed to stay close with its recent opponents, but the Jaspers will need to be near perfect in order to beat Florida Atlantic.

Keys for Manhattan

Run an offense. Manhattan has a somewhat talented and athletic team. The Jaspers also have multiple offensive threats.

Kidani Brutus is a solid three-point shooter.

Mike Alvarado is a strong driver and has a good jump shot. Alvarado is coming off an ankle injury, but he is supposed to play in Tuesday's game.

Demetrius Jemison has been great in the high post and also has solid ball-handling skills for a big man.  

George Beamon is an excellent driver. The sophomore has a couple of moves that get him to the basket for easy buckets. 

With all of this, Rohrssen needs to find a way to get every player involved and get them high percentage. Manhattan's lack of a set offense is one of the main reasons that the Jaspers have not won since before Thanksgiving.

Stay in a 1-3-1 zone. Manhattan's 1-3-1 zone is not great, but it has been their best defense this year. Against some teams, the 1-3-1 zone has shut down the opposing guards.

The other defense that the Jaspers run is a 2-3 zone. When the Jaspers play in a 2-3 zone, opponents get tons of open three-point looks. The Jaspers' 2-3 zone is the reason why opponents shoot nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc.

Keys for Florida Atlantic

Don't be afraid to shoot three's. Manhattan is not strong with perimeter defense. Florida Atlantic has a few solid three-point shooters whose numbers would probably rise against Manhattan. 

Battle on the boards. Neither Florida Atlantic nor Manhattan is a good rebounding team. On average, Florida Atlantic grabs 34.4 RPG, and Manhattan grabs 34.5 RPG. If Florida Atlantic can win the rebound battle, it will have every advantage over Manhattan. 

My line: Florida Atlantic by 13

Barry Rohrssen continues to dig a deep hole for himself at Manhattan College. The man who is renowned as one of the best recruiters for the New York area continues to struggle as a head coach.

In his fifth year at Manhattan college, Rohrssen is 54-78 with a 28-46 record in the MAAC. Rohrssen has had only one winning season with Manhattan. 

Many Manhattan fans wanted Rohrssen fired after a miserable 11-20 season in 2009-10. Manhattan chose to stick with Rohrssen for another season, and the fans stayed somewhat optimistic. So far, keeping Rohrssen around has certainly not paid off.

Rohrssen brought in some good talent for this season and has more good recruits set to start careers at Manhattan next season. However, even with this new talent, Rohrssen has been unable to win games. 

After a promising 2-0 start in 2010-11, Manhattan has lost eight straight games. Although three of the losses were to top-tier teams in the Old Spice Classic, the rest have been against very mediocre teams that any truly good team would be able to beat. 

Barry is a great guy. I have met him around the neighborhood, and he is nice, friendly and charismatic. It is no surprise to me that he is a good recruiter. However, he fails to be a good college basketball coach in terms of X's and O's.

As important as recruiting is at the mid-major level, a good coach still needs to be able to coach a team from the sidelines. Rohrssen has struggled to complete this criteria. 

On multiple occasions this year, Rohrssen has shown his inability to coach during a game and his ability to make perplexing decisions, the most recent coming on Saturday against Binghamton.

Just as in previous games, Rohrssen continued to change the Jasper defense, even when it had been working. Manhattan started the game in a 2-3 zone, and Binghamton hit more than its share of three-pointers. Rohrssen switched Manhattan into a man-to-man defense.

In this defense, Manhattan limited Binghamton's shooting. In the second half, Rohrssen switched back into a 2-3 zone, and Binghamton hit a couple of big three-pointers en route to a 70-69 win. 

Rohrssen's substitutions have also been problematic. Rohrssen tends to take out players who seem to be jelling and will put in much less talented players to replace them.

For example, on Saturday Rohrssen took out Demetrius Jemison after he had made back-to-back shots. Jemison came back in a few minutes later and seemed to be out of any groove he had been in before.

Worst of all, with Manhattan's thin bench, Rohrssen is sometimes inclined to bring in players who really cannot do anything productive on the court. Walk-on Liam McCabe-Moran came into the game on Saturday only to shoot 0-for-2 from the field and turn the ball over once. At least Rohrssen had the sense to remove him after a couple of minutes. 

The worst move by Manhattan on Saturday, which was partially coaching and partially poor execution on the part of the Manhattan players, was on what should have been a simple in-bounds pass.

With Manhattan leading by one point with eight seconds remaining, the fans started murmuring about how even with two free throws by Manhattan, Binghamton would still have a chance to tie the game with a three-pointer.

No one was expecting what they were about to see.

Binghamton's defenders lined up around the foul line, and Manhattan's Mike Alvarado streaked to the sideline to receive an in-bounds pass. Whether Alvarado was pushed or he slipped, he fell to the ground and the pass went out of bounds off Manhattan.

Binghamton would then win the game on a lay-up off of a well-executed in-bounds pass.

Why pass the ball to the sideline? Even if Alvarado comes up with the pass, he would have had no room to move or even pivot. There was no one defending the in-bounder.

Rohrssen should have sent Alvarado right to the ball for an easy, simple pass. What ended up being a turnover that completely changed the game could have been fairly easily avoided.

Then on defense after the turnover, Rohrssen left Nick Walsh, who had been brought in for free throw shooting on the previous possession, on defense. Walsh is simply not a good defender. He was assigned to Jimmy Gray.

Binghamton ran a play for Gray to get an alley-oop lay-up. It turns out that the screen set for Gray was unnecessary, as Walsh was lost on defense once Gray made his cut to the basket. Manhattan might as well have been playing with four defenders. 

Meanwhile, Gabriel, whose strongest point is defense, was sitting on the bench.

Rohrssen then opted to not use his final timeout, and a messy shot from halfcourt by George Beamon rimmed out. 

Instances like this are what make Rohrssen's coaching ability very questionable. These instances are what ignite comments from fans such as, "Haven't you ever heard of defense, Barry?"

As I said before, not everything about Rohrssen is terrible. He is a good recruiter and a positive influence on his players. His recruiting ability could be enough to bring Manhattan back to the top half of the MAAC if he can get a good X's and O's coach on the bench. 

As much as Rohrssen needs to learn how to coach the game, he also needs to find a way to do a better job of developing his players. With all of the talent that Rohrssen has had, all of his players have seemed to underachieve.

Antoine Pearson from the 2010 class looked like he could become one of the top guards in the MAAC when he was only a freshman. Pearson did not get better under Rohrssen. After averaging 9.5 PPG as a freshman, Pearson only averaged 7.9 PPG as a senior. 

Devon Austin was a sophomore when Rohrssen entered the Manhattan program. Austin was a very talented forward who had scored 7.6 PPG as a freshman under Bobby Gonzalez.

Although Austin made slight improvements under Rohrssen, he clearly never reached his full potential. Austin looked a possible future MAAC POY as a freshman, but he came nowhere close to that achievement, averaging only 11.1 PPG in his senior year.

The only slight exception that can made is the development of Darryl Crawford. Crawford was one of Rohrssen's first recruits and showed signs of being a good player for Manhattan, but did not seem to be too talented as a freshman. Crawford managed to improve under Rohrssen and had a strong season in 2009-10 with 14.8 PPG and 6.3 RPG. 

Personally, I would say that Rohrssen has to finish above .500 this season to deserve one more chance, and then I would set expectations much higher for next season.

However, Rohrssen has enough talent that a sub-500 record would be embarrassing for the Manhattan program. Rohrssen has to get his team winning if he wants to keep his job for 2011-12.

The holiday season has not started nicely for the Manhattan Jaspers. Manhattan (2-5, 0-1 MAAC) has now lost five games in a row after a 2-0 start, with the latest loss coming from Rider (5-3, 1-1 MAAC) by a score of 88-59. 

Manhattan simply did not show up to play basketball on Thursday night. The Jaspers appeared to be out of the game early, trailing 20-9. The Jaspers got themselves right back into the game and even took a 25-24 lead with a 16-4 run in the first half. Rider then blew the game back open to take a 45-29 halftime lead. 

In the second half, Manhattan got off to another slow start and a three-pointer by Justin Robinson gave Rider a 60-32 lead. Just as in the first half, Manhattan made a run to get itself back in the game. A 15-1 run cut the Rider lead to 61-47 with 12:10 left. 

After a timeout, Manhattan came out with no intensity and fell way behind and had no chance of coming back. 

Manhattan lost this game mainly due to poor coaching. Every time Manhattan came close, the coaching staff made an empty-headed move. Head Coach Barry Rohrssen made poor substitutions and a bonehead defensive change. 

Rohrssen played Nick Walsh for 24 minutes and limited Kidani Brutus to 18 minutes. Brutus, who had averaged 11 points per game in the Old Spice Classic, helps the offense flow and gives the Jaspers another fairly strong scoring threat.

Meanwhile, Walsh, despite being one of two seniors on the roster, should not be getting so much playing time. Walsh hurts the Jaspers on both offense and defense. Walsh cannot handle the ball, be a scoring threat or play strong defense. With Walsh on the floor, the game slows down. When the game slows down, Manhattan struggles to score. Also, it does not seem like such a good idea to slow down the game by putting in Walsh when you are trying to come back from down double digits late in the second half.

If the Jaspers are going to win games, Rohrssen needs to have a better understanding of who should be on the court.

The other poor coaching move was switching Manhattan from a 1-3-1 defense into a 2-3 zone. Rohrssen made the same mistake against Wisconsin and Texas A&M and it hurt the Jaspers greatly. He seemed to have realized his mistake by playing with a 1-3-1 all game against Georgia. 

During the few days off, Rohrssen must have forgotten that teams can score at will against his 2-3 zone.

Whenever Manhattan would switch into a 1-3-1 zone, Rider had trouble scoring. Manhattan would force turnovers and get baskets in transition. If Manhattan had played this way for 40 minutes, the Jaspers would have been at least within single digits of Rider by the time the final buzzer sounded. 

When Rohrssen would switch to a 2-3 defense, Rider would score easily. There were open lanes for drivers, one-on-one opportunities right under the basket and open looks from three-point range. 

However, coaching was not the only thing that hurt Manhattan. As I said before, the Jaspers did not show up to play on Thursday night. 

Mike Alvarado played what was easily his worst game, scoring only nine points on 2-for-13 shooting. Alvarado did manage to get to the line and make five of his six free throws.

Also, all of the Jaspers committed dumb fouls, especially Andrew Gabriel. Twice, Gabriel committed weak reaching fouls on dunks, turning what would normally be energizing throw-downs into easy energizing three-point plays.

The only true bright spot of Thursday's game was Robert Martina's performance. The junior from Miami Dade turned what was definitely his best performance this season. In 21 minutes Martina scored 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting and grabbed four rebounds. 

Sophomore George Beamon also had a fairly strong game with 16 points. Beamon and Martina were backed up by Rhamel Brown, who, despite committing a pair of dumb fouls, had eight points and eight rebounds. 

Rider was led by Brandon Penn's 26 points and nine rebounds. Penn shot 8-for-13 from the field and 5-for-8 from three-point range. 

Rider had four other players score in double digits. Mike Ringgold 14 points, Novar Gadson had 13 points and Justin Robinson and Anthony Myles each scored 11 points. 

As a team, Rider shot 61.1 percent from the field and had 23 assists on 33 field goals.

Tip-Off

Thursday, Dec. 2, 7:00 PM, at Draddy Gymnasium, Bronx, NY

It was certainly painful to watch the Jaspers play in the Old Spice Classic over Thanksgiving weekend. However, it could have been much rougher. 

Manhattan (2-4) continually improved throughout the three games in Orlando. The Jaspers played strong defense throughout the tournament and slowly improved their offense and their scoring. In the final game of the Old Spice Classic, the Jaspers showed signs of a team that could be competitive in the MAAC, falling to Georgia by only three points. 

The Jaspers return home on Thursday and will look to keep improving in the MAAC opener against Rider (4-3, 0-1 MAAC). 

The Broncs, who have lost two straight games since a 4-1 start, will look to rebound from two tough games and show that they could be the best team in the MAAC.

Here are the keys to winning this game for both teams:

Keys for Rider

Stay aggressive on the glass. Rider is not a strong rebounding team, averaging only 34 boards per game. However, the Broncs do have some big bodies which can cause some trouble for Manhattan on the glass. Manhattan's best rebounders are fairly small, with the biggest being Rhamel Brown at 6'6". 

Keep up the good three-point shooting. Rider has been lights out from beyond the arc, with a 43.5 percent completion percentage. The Broncs have seven players shooting higher than 41 percent from three-point range. If Manhattan continues to play defense the same way that it did in the Old Spice Classic, Rider will get some open looks for three-pointers. The Broncs must convert on these.

Big men, stay out of foul trouble. Rider's two main big men, Mike Ringgold and Novar Gadson, have each been in foul trouble a few times this season. With these big men in foul trouble, the team appears to struggle.

Keys for Manhattan

Stay strong down low. Manhattan has a couple of players that can play well in the post. Pounding the ball down low will give players like Rhamel Brown and Andrew Gabriel opportunities to score in the paint, and players like Mike Alvarado and Kidani Brutus a chance to get open looks at jump shots.

Penetrate. The Jaspers have a pair of very good drivers in George Beamon and Alvarado. It seems as though when these two drive, good things tend to happen for the Jaspers. 

Stay out of foul trouble. Manhattan is still very under-manned. Due to injuries, Manhattan only has 10 men on its current roster and only six have averaged more than 10 minutes per game. With a thin team, it is important to stay out of foul trouble. The Jaspers struggled to do this against Wisconsin and Texas A&M, but seemed to solve the problem against Georgia, fouling the Bulldogs only 13 times.

My line: Rider by 7

The Jaspers took a big step down on Saturday against the Long Island Blackbirds after playing a very strong game against Penn on Wednesday. 

Manhattan (2-1) was crushed on the boards, losing the battle 45-39. Long Island (3-0) managed to get 24 offensive rebounds and convert for 19 second-chance points. 

After an even start to the game, the Blackbirds pulled away to a 40-33 halftime lead in the final four minutes of the first half. After an early second-half run by Manhattan cut the lead back to three points, Long Island pulled away to a 54-43 lead with 13:10 remaining. The Blackbirds would extend the lead to 16 points with barely over six minutes left to play. 

Hot shooting from the Jaspers down the stretch cut the lead all the way down to seven points, but the Jaspers' defense could not make the big stops on defense to complete the comeback. The Jaspers would go on to lose 91-80.

The Jaspers showed off their ability to score the basketball, but they were awful on defense. The Jaspers continually let the Blackbirds run up the floor for easy layups. Time after time, a Long Island guard would beat all five Jaspers down the floor and go in for an uncontested shot.

And even when Manhattan forced the Blackbirds to play in a half court offense, the Jaspers' zone was terrible. Instead of forcing jump shots from the outside like a zone is supposed to do, holes in the Manhattan zone allowed players to get inside for high percentage shots.

And when Manhattan was able to keep Long Island from getting inside, the Blackbirds found wide open looks from beyond the arc and were generally able to convert. 

Manhattan also showed the disadvantages to being under-manned in Saturday's game. The Jaspers, who are missing five players from their roster, had multiple players in foul trouble. In the first two games of the season, the Jaspers had done a good job of staying out of foul trouble. On Saturday, five Manhattan players had four or more fouls. Until the Jaspers get the rest of their team back, they cannot afford to have players getting into foul trouble or fouling out. 

As bad as the defense was, the Jaspers showed some sparks on offense. 

Michael Alvarado led the Jaspers in scoring for the second time this season. Alvarado scored 18 points and dished out four assists. Alvarado was not as crisp as he had been in the first two games as he turned the ball over three times. The freshman made a few bad decisions, but overall had another good game.

Kidani Brutus continues to improve, scoring a career-high 17 points. Brutus made five three-pointers. Brutus was one of the few Manhattan players that was not in foul trouble. Brutus was able to make a couple of contested three-pointers. If Barry Rohrssen can design some plays to get Brutus open, he can be a deadly and productive shooter from downtown.

After following a strong performance against NJIT with an atrocious performance against Penn, Andrew Gabriel rebounded from a one-for-13 shooting night on Wednesday to score 12 points on six-for-10 shooting. Gabriel showed off a couple of nice moves in the post and an improved jump shot. However, Gabriel killed the Jaspers with eight turnovers, including a traveling violation late in the game which hurt Manhattan's chances of a comeback.

Junior college transfer Robert Martina had his best game as a Jasper with nine points and five rebounds. Martina shot two-for-four from the field and made all five of his free throws. Martina continues to show that he has talent, but he also continues to look lost and confused on the floor.

Rhamel Brown recorded the first double-double of his collegiate career with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Brown had a couple of electrifying dunks, but the freshman fouled out for the second time in three games.

For Long Island, Kenny Onyechi had a double-double off the bench with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Onyechi shot 8-for-10 from the foul line. Julian Boyd, Kyle Johnson, David Hicks, and Michael Culpo all scored in double digits for Long Island with 17 points, 14 points, 12 points, and 11 points, respectively. 

The Blackbirds rebounded from poor shooting in the first half and shot 16-for-31 (51.6 percent) in the second half. The Blackbirds made 28 of their 40 free throws for a solid 70 percent. 

With this win, the Blackbirds are one of two remaining undefeated teams in the Northeast Conference (Central Connecticut State). The Blackbirds will return to the Bronx on Tuesday when they play at Fordham.

Manhattan now has to prepare for the Old Spice Classic, where the Jaspers have a first round, Thanksgiving date with the Wisconsin Badgers.

For more college basketball news, follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter.

Tip-Off

Saturday, Nov. 20, 2:00 PM, at Draddy Gymnasium, Bronx, NY

It has been a couple of years since the Manhattan Jaspers started a season 3-0. The Jaspers will have a chance to start 3-0 for the second time since Barry Rohssen has been the Manhattan head coach, hosting the Long Island Blackbirds on Saturday afternoon.

The Jaspers (2-0) defeated the Penn Quakers 59-54 in their last game, using a 17-0 run in the final minutes to go ahead. 

Long Island (2-0), which was picked to finish in third place in the Northeast Conference preseason coaches' poll. The Blackbirds defeated Norfolk State last week in their season opener, and then dominated Texas State with a 91-67 win to start a four game road trip. The Blackbirds have now won five of their last six regular season games. 

Despite Manhattan only winning its first two games by five points each compared to Long Island's 23.5 average margin of victory through its first two games, these two teams match up well and this match up could result in a close, interesting game.

Before some analysis of the Jaspers and the Blackbirds, here is a little bit of history.

Manhattan is 12-6 in the all-time series against Long Island. The Jaspers have won the last four meetings against Long Island, including 71-61 victory last season in Brooklyn.

Manhattan has not lost to Long Island since 1980.

Manhattan has won two out of three meetings against the Long Island Blackbirds when playing in Draddy Gymnasium. 

Manhattan is 132-51 all-time against members of the Northeast Conference.

Keys For Long Island

Keep up the high scoring. Long Island has been able to put up points easily through the first two games, averaging 89 points per game. Manhattan showed its ability to play very good defense against Penn, but the Blackbirds should still stick to what was working before and try to get points on the board quickly.

Deny the Jaspers in the paint. Against Penn, the Jaspers scored nearly half of their points in the paint. The Jaspers have guards that can score off of drives, and a few big men in Rhamel Brown, Robert Martina, and Andrew Gabriel that can score in the post.

The Jaspers' jump shooting has not been awful this season, but it has not been anywhere near great. If the Blackbirds can force the Jaspers to take a lot of jump shots, Long Island will be in solid shape.

Keys For Manhattan

Lock down on defense. The Jaspers managed to hold Penn to no points in the final 7:45 of the second half on Wednesday night. Although Penn did miss on some opportunities to score, Manhattan's defense was outstanding down the stretch. If Manhattan can play defense like it did down the stretch in Wednesday's game for 40 minutes on Saturday, the Jaspers could give Long Island many troubles on offense. 

Share the ball, limit turnovers. During Manhattan's 17-0 run against Penn, the Jaspers had three assists on five made field goals. Against NJIT, Manhattan had only four assists to 14 turnovers.

These turnovers were part of what allowed NJIT to keep itself in the game through the final buzzer. Against Penn, Manhattan only turned the ball over six times and upped its assist total to 11.The Jaspers have to take care of the ball the way they did against Penn.

Stay out of foul trouble. The Jaspers have done a solid job of not getting into foul trouble. The Jaspers are under-manned due to injuries and the ineligibility of Demetrius Jemison. With only six players that can really make a big impact on the hardwood, the Jaspers cannot afford to have players getting into foul trouble, or even worse fouling out. 

Deciding Factor—Battle on the Backboards

Manhattan has been solid on the boards so far with 36 rebounds per game, but Long Island has been outstanding so far with 45.5 rebounds per game, standing at No. 23 in the country in rebounding. The Blackbirds have a bunch of guys that are averaging more than four rebounds per game, but Julian Boyd leads the team with 8.5 rebounds per game. 

The only consistent rebounder for Manhattan is George Beamon. Beamon is averaging 10 rebounds per game to this point in the season. Aside from Beamon, Manhattan's main rebounders are all members of its backcourt. The Jaspers will need Andrew Gabriel, Rhamel Brown, and Robert Martina (and Djibril Coulibaly and Kevin Laue, if they get playing time) to battle strongly for rebounds. It would not be surprising to see the team with more rebounds be the winner at the end of the day. 

Long Island Player to Watch For: Kyle Johnson

Senior guard Kyle Johnson has meant a lot to Long Island in his time with the program. Johnson has averaged double digit scoring in each year since he was a freshman. This season, Johnson is averaging 16 points per game. Johnson scored 22 points against Texas State and shot 4-for-5 from three-point range. 

Manhattan Player to Watch For: George Beamon

Beamon looks to continue his coming out party on Saturday. The sophomore, who only averaged 3.6 points per game as a freshman, posted a double-double against NJIT with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and then followed that performance up with a career-high 21 points against Penn. Beamon also had nine rebounds against the Quakers. 

My line: Long Island by 5

For more news on New York City basketball and the MAAC, follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter.