Manhattan Basketball

It seemed like the start of another long season after Manhattan's struggles in the final minutes of the first half continued into the second half. Then the Jaspers caught fire in the final eight minutes. After a Jack Eggleston three-pointer for Penn (1-1) with 7:46 remaining, a George Beamon and-one sparked a 17-0 run for the Jaspers that would carry Manhattan (2-0) to a 59-54 win. 

Manhattan stormed back and took its first lead since the 7:47 mark in the first half on a pair of Beamon free throws. On the next possession, Kidani Brutus hit a three-pointer from the right wing to bolt the Jaspers lead up to four points. Penn could not make any shots in the final minute, and Brutus hit one more free throw with 13 seconds remaining to put the score at 59-54.

Manhattan definitely had a period of rough points, but the Jaspers stepped up their game in the second half. 

Manhattan found multiple players that can score

Three Jaspers scored in double digits, and Michael Alvarado was not far behind with eight points. Beamon led Manhattan in scoring with 21 points. Kidani Brutus scored 14 points, and freshman Rhamel Brown scored 10 points. 

Once again, the Jaspers did not foul too much

The Jaspers only fouled 18 times against NJIT, and managed to lower that number to 15 times in the home opener against Penn. Brutus was the only player in serious foul trouble with four fouls.

The little guys can rebound

Out of Manhattan's 35 rebounds, 23 rebounds came from Alvarado, Beamon and Brutus. Brutus led the Jaspers in rebounding with 10 rebounds, recording his first double-double as a Jasper. 

Alvarado appears to be on the way to becoming a true point guard

Alvarado was great against NJIT with 23 points, but he only recorded two assists, which is unacceptable for a point guard. Although Alvarado did not score as much against Penn, he dished out seven assists. 

Manhattan's guards played very well, but with the exception of Rhamel Brown the Jasper big men were awful. Andrew Gabriel scored only four points on atrocious 1-for-13 shooting from the field. Of course, Gabriel was not all bad, hitting two clutch free throws down the stretch.

In addition, Robert Martina and Djibril Coulibaly really struggled against the Quakers. Both looked lost on both offense and defense. Martina has shown that he has lots of talent, but he has not yet been able to put it to good use. After a solid four point, seven rebound performance on Saturday, Martina only scored two points against Penn.

Coulibaly only played nine minutes, but in those nine minutes he was terrible. Coulibaly opened up the game with a turnover, then completely missed on a jump shot a few minutes later before missing the front end of a one-and-one. Barry Rohrssen made the smart decision by pulling him at that point. 

The Jaspers will also have to work on perimeter defense. For most of the game, Penn was consistently getting open looks from beyond the arc. Manhattan was lucky that Penn only made 10 of its 32 three-pointers. Jack Eggleston made four three-pointers on his way to a 22-point performance.

Lastly, whether it is Rohrssen learning how to coach or one of his assistants helping him out, the Manhattan coaching staff made a great move having Beamon defend Penn guard Zack Rosen, who had a hard time scoring because of Beamon's length and athleticism.

When Beamon was not guarding Rosen, Rosen was able to get multiple open looks from three-point range. Hopefully, this move will be one in the line of many smart coaching moves by Rohrssen and his staff.

The Jaspers will play their final game prior to the Old Spice Classic on Saturday, November 20 against the Long Island Blackbirds.

It was not especially pretty, but the Manhattan Jaspers managed to win their season opener for the fourth straight year. This was the first time the Jaspers have won four straight season openers since the 1980s.

The Jaspers came out of the gate strong. Senior Andrew Gabriel opened up the game with a layup on the first possession, and then followed it up with a three-point play on the next possession. Gabriel went on to finish with 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting. 

Sophomore guard George Beamon helped Gabriel, providing a spark for the Jaspers with the first double-double of his collegiate career. Beamon finished the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds. 

It took a little while for star freshman Michael Alvarado to get involved. However, after a few minutes, Alvarado started scoring and playing extremely well, turning in a 23-point performance. Alvarado shot 12-for-15 from the foul line. 

After the strong start by the Jaspers, their 21-7 lead shrunk four points after Isaiah Wilkerson's jump shot. Wilkerson would finish the game with 21 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double since last November. Manhattan then boosted its lead back to 31-21 late in the first half, but NJIT trimmed the lead back to 31-25 at halftime. 

NJIT came out strong in the second half and took its first lead on a three-pointer by Arjun Ohri. Leading 50-49, NJIT watched its slim lead disappear. Manhattan went on a big run and took a 62-53 lead on a pair of Andrew Gabriel free throws with 4:25 remaining. 

NJIT came back once more to cut the Manhattan lead to two points in the final minute, but Manhattan drained its free throws to return to Riverdale with a 75-70 road win under its belt. 

Now, a win is a win, but it is never a great sign to see your team struggle against NJIT. Despite being picked to be the best team in the Great West, Manhattan should have had at least a little more ease in this game. Then again, it was the first game of the season with a lot of new players and only one senior playing. However, Manhattan still played solid and showed that it could be a tough team in the MAAC if the Jaspers start to jell.

In the past few years, Manhattan has struggled to get to the foul line, and has then struggled to convert its free throws in minimal opportunities. Manhattan has appeared to have fixed that problem. Manhattan shot 46 free throws and made 34 of them for a solid 73.9 percent.

The Jaspers also shot well from the field, converting 19 shots out of 41 (46.3 percent).

Lastly, the Jaspers refrained from fouling too often. In the past, the Jaspers have been a team that fouls a lot and gets into the penalty early in the half. On Saturday, the Jaspers only fouled 18 times. 

Of course, since the Jaspers only won by five points, not everything was perfect.

Most importantly, the Jaspers only had four assists in Saturday's game—two from Beamon and two from Alvarado. Especially if these two become the main guards, they will need to be able to become playmakers and help out their teammates.

Still, it is a bad sign that only two of the seven players that played in Saturday's matchup recorded an assist. The Jaspers also turned the ball over 14 times, making their assist to turnover ratio only one assist for every 3.5 turnovers.

Next, the Jaspers allowed NJIT to grab 20 offensive rebounds. Against some of the more talented teams the Jaspers will play, more of these offensive rebounds will be converted into second chance baskets. The Jaspers have to do a better job on the boards.

The Jaspers will also have to put some focus into improving their three-point shooting. The Jaspers only made three three-pointers in the season's opener. If Manhattan can add a stronger three-point threat, it will give the Jaspers much better balance. 

In the end, Manhattan showed that it has the potential to at least have a mediocre season, but there is still a lot to work on.

It was definitely not a good sign that Manhattan lost to the Concordia Clippers. Nor was it a good sign that the Jaspers blew a five-point lead late in the game in their one and only exhibition game before the regular season.

However, it seemed clear that Barry Rohrssen was not so much coaching to win the game, but to see how his players play with one another and get a feel for how to coach this team once the regular season is underway. An 82-80 loss to a Division-II school is never a good sign, but there were some positives that could be drawn from the loss.

First, the "up-recruits" look like they will actually be "up-recruits." Despite being a little bit raw and inexperienced, the Manhattan newcomers played fairly well against Concordia. A few of the new recruits did not play in the exhibition games, but the ones who did appeared to be very helpful to the Manhattan squad.

Freshman Mike Alvarado, despite being in his first year of collegiate play, looks as though he will be able to be Manhattan's main point guard. Alvarado had 15 points against Concordia and shot 7-for-8 on free throws. Alvarado only had two assists, but he deserved more than that. Alvarado set up some nice plays that were not finished, and he also kept the ball moving on offense.

Alvarado also managed to force a few turnovers with aggressive defense. Despite being a freshman, Alvarado looked very composed on the court.

Juniors Robert Martina and Kidani Brutus both had solid games. Brutus scored 15 points 4-for-6 shooting, burying two three-pointers. Martina only played 13 minutes, but he looked good during the time that he was in. Just as advertised, Martina runs the floor well and is solid on both offense and defense.

Freshman forward Rhamel Brown looked okay, but there is certainly a lot more for him to learn. Brown looked lost at a couple of points on offense, and simply forgot to box out on a missed free throw, giving the Clippers an offensive rebound. However, Brown was still able to grab six rebounds while putting up seven points in 21 minutes. 

Second, George Beamon has talent. However, the sophomore guard is also selfish with the ball. Beamon did not look eager to pass the ball at any point during the game. Beamon was red hot in the first half, scoring 15 points, but he slumped a little in the second half and finished 6-for-17 from the field.

Beamon showed how he was able to score 35 points per game as a senior in high school, but he will be no help to Manhattan if he stays selfish. Beamon also showed a little bit of a negative attitude at a few points during the game, getting angry at both himself and his teammates. 

Lastly, the big men that struggled last season could make some contributions this season. Even though senior forward Andrew Gabriel was playing against a D-II school, his fundamentals looked a lot better. Gabriel showed off his improved jump shot during a scrimmage last weekend, but did not do much scoring on Tuesday night. However, he was fouling less, which was one of his weak points in earlier seasons. 

Djibril Coulibaly was generally still the same Djibril Coulibaly. He let a few balls go through his hands and made some bonehead plays, but he grabbed seven rebounds and knocked in a few nice tip-ins.

It is still too early to make any sure predictions about Manhattan's upcoming season, but there is certainly no reason to give up on the Jaspers just yet.

Follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter for more college basketball news and notes.

Barry Rohrssen already signed 5'10" point guard Dayvon Whitaker for the 2011-12 season.

He has now added to next year's recruiting class with the addition of Jefferson High School guard Davontay Grace.

Grace originally committed to St. John's during his sophomore year in high school, but de-committed when Norm Roberts was fired and Steve Lavin filled the vacancy.

Rohrssen, who had been recruiting Grace for the last few years, swooped right in and got a verbal commitment on August 17, 2010. Rohrssen beat out multiple Big East powerhouses and a few local mid-majors to bring Grace to the Bronx for next season.

Grace has been compared over and over again to former Pittsburgh guard Levance Fields.

He stands at 6'2" and weighs 206 lbs. Grace's stocky build does not slow him down, but makes him stronger.

Grace is reported to have the ability to explode to the hoop for layups, and to also be able to put up pull-up jump shots.

ESPN reports that he is a natural at the point guard position, but he still needs a little bit of help limiting his turnovers. 

Both Rohrssen and Jefferson head coach Bud Pollard think Grace has the potential to become a star in the MAAC. 

In other recruiting news, ESPN has reported that Manhattan is also pursuing 6'6" small forward Ryan McCoy.

McCoy is supposedly a very good shooter who can also handle the ball fairly well. McCoy is also being recruited by many other mid-majors from the tri-state area.

Follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter for more college basketball news or reach by email at jessekr@heschel.org.

Since Steve Lavin was hired for the head coaching job at St. John's, rumors have swirled that Manhattan College head coach Barry Rohrssen would join Lavin's staff as an assistant coach. 

Rohrssen is considered the top recruiter in the nation of the five boroughs of New York City and used to be an assistant coach at Pitt under Jamie Dixon.

With Pitt, Rohrssen brought in stars such as Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon. 

Rohrssen has struggled as the head coach of Manhattan through his first four seasons, compiling a 52-70 record. He has never brought the Jaspers past the MAAC quarterfinals and is 2-4 in the MAAC Tournament. 

Rohrssen had Manhattan fans excited upon his entrance to the Manhattan program due to his reputation as a great recruiter. However, Rohrssen's great recruiting skills had not shown through his first few seasons.

His only good recruit to play for him was Rico Pickett. Pickett played for Alabama as a freshman but then left to play at Miami Dade College. For his junior season, Pickett chose Manhattan over Connecticut and Florida. Pickett was ranked as the overall No. 46 recruit in 2006. 

Rohrssen appears to be starting to find his way with recruiting at Manhattan. As of now, Rohrssen has already received commitments from four solid players.

Rohrssen has had a verbal commitment from Mike Alvarado for two years. Alvarado is graded an 80 on ESPN and is ranked No. 123 for point guards. 

Near the start of the 2009-10 season, Rohrssen received a commitment from sharpshooter Kidani Brutus. Brutus is currently playing at Carl Albert State College in Oklahoma. There is no guarantee on how good Brutus will be, but he is supposedly a dangerous three-point shooter.

In the last few months, Rohrssen received commitments from forwards Joel "Air Jamaica" Wright and Rhamel Brown.

Wright is a Top 100 small forward this year. He was originally committed to Fordham, but when Dereck Whittenburg was fired, he left Fordham and chose Manhattan. Wright can cause problems for opponents on the defensive end and can also be relied on for consistent double-digit scoring. 

Brown is known for his shot-blocking and rebounding. Brown has reportedly also has a polished offensive game, but it is not his strength. Brown has good hands on the inside, which Manhattan has lacked in the "Rohrssen Era." 

Lastly, Rohrssen received a verbal commitment from Poughkeepsie guard Dayvon Whitaker. Whitaker is only 5'9", but he has the ability to score and is supposedly a playmaker. Whitaker will not play for Manhattan in next year, but rather in 2011-2012.

Rohrssen has also gotten interest from Roland Brown and Maurice Barrow for the 2010-2011 season. 

Brown is 6'8" and can score in the post. He is also able to run the floor well and can sometimes cause havoc on breaks. But offense is not his strength. Brown is a massive presence in the post and can rebound and block shots.

Barrow is a 6'4" small forward and is ranked No. 97 for his position. Barrow is considered to be able to do everything fairly well but does not have one area where he is very good. Barrow has strength, which Manhattan has lacked in recent years. He can drive and also has a mediocre jump shot. 

Now, Barry Rohrssen is faced with a big question: Should he stay with his struggling, but hopeful, Manhattan Jaspers, or should he leave to be an assistant at a Big East school?

Rohrssen has expressed some interest in the job at St. John's but has also stated that he is happy with Manhattan and would like to coach the team in 2010-11. 

Rohrssen has struggled with the letters "x" and "o," but there has been some talk that he may be bringing in new assistants for next season. If he could get a good wingman on his bench for next season, the Jaspers stand a chance at contending in the MAAC in 2010-11.

Please check back for more updates on the current coaching situations at Manhattan College.

For more college basketball news and updates, follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter by clicking here.

It astounds me that Manhattan College is still considering Barry Rohrssen for a fifth season as the men's basketball coach.

In his first four years, Rohrssen compiled a 42-60 record without one postseason appearance. His fourth season was his worst, finishing 11-20 and in eighth place in the MAAC. Rohrssen finished fifth in the MAAC in his first and third years.

It is time that this guy goes. 

This past year, Rohrssen had a team with a lot of talent. The 2009-10 Jaspers consisted of five seniors and one redshirt junior. Rohrssen had also brought in Rico Pickett from Miami Dade Junior College. Pickett was a top 50 recruit in 2006 and was supposed to be a savior for Manhattan.

Despite this talent, Rohrssen drove the team straight into the ground with horrific coaching.

As a game coach, Rohrssen has not been able to draw up plays to get good shots for Manhattan when it needs them. Manhattan has trailed by one possession with the ball in the final minute of eight different occasions.

When Rohrssen was growing up, his elementary school must have left two letters out while teaching the alphabet—"x" and "o."

With all honesty, I attended 10 Manhattan games this year and saw Rohrssen draw up a play one time. 

Rohrssen has brought in some good recruits over the last two years, which is a legitimate reason to keep him. For the 2009-10 season, Rohrssen beat out UConn and Florida for Rico Pickett, and then signed Mohammed Koita, who originally had committed to UCLA. Rohrssen also signed George Beamon, who averaged 35 points per game as a high school senior.

For 2010-11, Rohrssen has already signed Mike Alvarado, a guard from All Hallows who is supposedly one of the best in New York City; Rhamel Brown, who is a defensive beast; and Joel "Air Jamaica" Wright, who could be the best of this recruiting class.

However, Rohrssen has not been able to develop the talent he brings in.

In his first season, Rohrssen was left with Devon Austin as the only player that looked like he could be a star from the previous season. As a freshman, Austin stepped into a starting role after the suspension of C.J. Anderson, averaging close to eight points per game.

After scoring 12.4 points per game in his sophomore season with Rohrssen, Austin declined and only averaged 11 points per game as a senior.

Rohrssen brought in some solid freshmen in his first year with Manhattan. Darryl Crawford and Antoine Pearson looked like they would be All-MAAC players by the time senior year came around. 

Crawford steadily progressed, although he never reached his full potential. But Rohrssen made the big mistake with Pearson.

Pearson averaged 9.5 points per game as a freshman and was one of the quicker guards in the MAAC. His crossover literally put some players on their backsides. 

Pearson played 30 minutes per game as a sophomore but then began to decline. Rohrssen only played Pearson for an average of 23 minutes per game for his final two seasons as a Jasper. 

In Pearson's rare playing time, he was still able to get to the hoop and create open shots on offense. 

So, even if Manhattan risks losing Rohrssen's big recruits for 2010-11, it does not matter. These players will not get much better, and Manhattan will still not contend in the top of the MAAC until Rohrssen is gone.

I will pose one other way Manhattan can keep Rohrssen and fix all the problems. I do not know how hard/possible this would be, but if Manhattan could bring in an assistant coach that could help develop the players and draw up plays on the bench, there could be a solution.

If Manhattan is not willing to do this, Rohrssen should be fired if the Jaspers ever want to have any chance at winning a MAAC championship.

Barry Rohrssen was 20 minutes away from saving his job in the 2010-11 Manhattan season, with his Jaspers leading Siena 40-36 at halftime in the MAAC Quarterfinals.

Manhattan (11-20, 4-14 MAAC) came out strong in the first half. Darryl Crawford scored the first seven points for the Jaspers, and then a steal lead to a breakaway slam for Rico Pickett. Alex Franklin's slamback with 16:48 left gave Siena (25-6, 17-1) its first points.

It looked like Siena was quickly back on the horse, cutting the lead to 9-4. Manhattan came back with the next seven points to take a 16-4 lead. 

Alex Franklin dominated the first half to keep the Saints close, scoring 17 points in the first 20 minutes. 

Owen Wignot hit his second three-pointer of the game to cut the Jasper lead to 32-31 with 3:22 left. Antoine Pearson responded with a three-pointer of his own.

After Wignot turned the ball on the ensuing possession, Rico Pickett got another chance at a breakaway dunk. Pickett looked over to the Siena bench as he came inside the foul and smiled, sticking his tongue out. Pickett then rose up for a backwards dunk, firing up the Manhattan squad. 

Patrick Bouli made a three-pointer a minute later to give Manhattan a 40-31 lead. Franklin came back with five points in the final 1:08 to cut the Jasper to lead 40-36 at intermission. 

Manhattan surprisingly came out with a lot of energy in the second half. After a couple of minutes, Clarence Jackson, who was held scoreless in the first half, found some room and scored eight points in a 12-2 Siena run. The run was capped by a Jackson three-pointer, giving the Saints their first lead of the game, 48-46. 

The Jaspers did not let the game get away from them, staying within 54-52 with 9:53 remaining. An 8-0 run by Siena put the Saints in the driver's seat with a 62-52 lead. 

Manhattan unraveled in the final few minutes, with Siena taking its largest lead of the game on a Just-in'love Smith three-pointer with 39 seconds left. 

The buzzer sounded with the scoreboard reading 78-61. The Saints move on to the semifinals to play No. 4 Rider, while the Jaspers end a miserable season with their 20th loss.

Fran McCaffery made a questionable move after pulling his starters in the final minute. There was plenty of jawing and shoving during the game and McCaffery thought that it would be best to send his starters to the locker room before the end of the game when they would shake hands with Manhattan players.

McCaffery really should have just let his players quickly shake hands with Manhattan and then run to the locker room before anything else could happen. 

Hopefully, with this loss the Barry Rohrssen era will come to an end. After four years with the Jaspers, Rohrssen's worst year came in 2009-10. Rohrssen showed poor coaching once more on Saturday and he is simply not a winner.

Analysis

As usual, Rohrssen was horrible with substitutions. Djibril Coulibaly did not deserve to play at all. Coulibaly should have had at least five rebounds, but due to his inability to grab a basketball, he only had one. Coulibaly let Siena get a lot of second chance opportunities.

Also, Antoine Pearson had a very good first half and was helping the offense move well. Pearson was absent for a lot of the second half.

Manhattan had no idea what it was doing when it had to execute in the final 10 minutes. The Jaspers did not have a plan to get a good look at the basket. If the Jaspers worked for good shots, they would have still had a chance down the stretch.

Although I feel like a real complainer for saying this, the officiating heavily favored Siena in this game. Everybody knows that the MAAC wants Siena to win because it would be best for the conference. However, the referees were so biased that it really threw the game off.

Every time Manhattan grazed a Siena player, the whistle was blown. At one point Crawford went up for a layup and was pulled down by his jersey. Crawford hit the floor and waited to hear a whistle. No whistle was blown—this was just one of many examples similar to this. 

If there had been better officiating, especially in the first half, Manhattan could have gotten to a more comfortable lead and might not have had as much pressure entering the second half.

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Alex Franklin led all scorers with 23 points. Franklin had 11 rebounds, eight of them offensive. Franklin shot 7-of-10 from the field and 9-of-14 from the line.

Owen Wignot was key off the bench with 11 points. Wignot made 3-of-4 three-pointers. 

Ryan Rossiter picked up yet another double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Edwin Ubiles also scored 10 points. Some think Ubiles is an NBA prospect, but he has not seemed to have what it takes to be with the pros this season.

Clarence Jackson scored eight points. All eight points came during Siena's 12-2 second half run. Jackson shot 2-of-15 from the field, and 2-of-11 from three-point range. 

The Saints struggled from the field and will need to figure things out if they hope to win an NCAA Tournament game for the third straight year. Siena shot 26-of-68 (38.2 percent) on Saturday.

Rico Pickett led Manhattan with 18 points. Pickett shot 7-of-16 from the field. Pickett had two monster dunks in the first half, but it was not enough for Manhattan. 

Darryl Crawford scored 12 points and ripped down nine rebounds. Crawford finished his collegiate career 22 points shy of Larry Lembo for seventh place on the Jaspers all-time scoring list.

Patrick Bouli scored nine points on three three-pointers and Antoine Pearson scored seven points, all in the first half.

For more college basketball, follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter by clicking here .  

It just hasn't been a good season for the Manhattan College Jaspers. The Jaspers are a mere 10-19 on the season, with a 4-14 mark in conference play. They have had tough loss after tough loss, which basically took them out of contention in their conference.

However, tonight was a different story...tonight was a better story. Manhattan exploded for a season-high 94 points in a 94-79 victory over Loyola (MD), a team they had lost to just five days ago.

It was the first round of the MAAC tournament in Albany, NY (home of the Siena Saints). In order to win the tournament, the Jaspers will need to win four games in four days.

Alabama transfer Rico Pickett, who has been a bright star all season, scored 33 points off the bench, 23 of them coming in the first half—a half in which the Jaspers had 51 points.

Darryl Crawford had 16 and Brandon Adamas had 14 for the Jaspers, who now have to face No. 1 seed Siena in what will essentially be a home game for the Saints. 

Loyola was led by Shane Walker, who had 26 in the season ending loss. 

It was a whole new team, a rejuvenated team, one that has not been present all season. A win like this will makes you wonder if the Jaspers have a shot tomorrow against one of the best teams in MAAC conference history. 

The Jaspers were 0-2 against Loyola coming into tonight, but found a way to keep a steady lead the whole way against the Greyhounds. Manhattan is also 0-2 against Siena, however the Jaspers were able to keep both games close. 

The win was not just big for the Manhattan program—which has faltered since being one of the more dominating mid-majors in the country back in 2004—it was also big for head coach Barry Rohrrsen, who is in very dangerous waters after not being able to bring success to Riverdale.

His offense has showed little spark, and it seems that he might rely on Rico Pickett a little too much.

However, tonight the Jaspers can sleep easy for at least one more day in Albany as they prepare for the Saints. Tip time is set for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be available locally on the MSG network.   

The Manhattan Jaspers have given fans some hope in the last week. First, Rhamel Brown, the 6'6" forward shot blocker form Transit Tech High School, verbally committed to Manhattan.

In pictures, Brown looks stronger than all of Manhattan's current big men combined. 

Also, Poughkeepsie guard Dayvon Whitaker committed to Manhattan for the 2011-2012 season.

Just a few days later, 6'6" small forward Joel Wright committed to Manhattan. Wright was originally committed to Fordham and was attending prep school this season. When Fordham fired its coach, Wright uncommitted from Fordham and started being recruiting by many northeast schools, including West Virginia, Providence, and Seton Hall. Wright chose Manhattan, and now the Jaspers are putting together a very good recruiting class.

Manhattan (11-19, 4-14 MAAC) was swept by Loyola (13-17, 6-12) in the regular season. Jasper fans could not think that Manhattan could lose to the same team three times in less than a month. 

Loyola got out to a quick 2-0 lead on its first possession—this would be Loyola's only lead for the entire game.

A 14-0 run by Manhattan got the offense going. Rico Pickett led the charge for the Jaspers, as they took the lead to as many as 42-23 in the first half with 5:26 left. Manhattan would take a 51-36 lead into halftime. Pickett scored 23 first half points.

In the second half, Loyola quickly cut the lead to seven points. After trading baskets for a few minutes, Loyola took advantage of a Manhattan mistake and cut the lead to 67-62. 

In my house, the "I can't believe it" and "here they go again" cries started. The Jaspers were blowing a big lead and fans were dumbfounded. 

Out of everybody on the offense, freshman guard George Beamon sparked the Jasper offense. Beamon is averaging only 3.1 points on the year. Beamon scored seven straight points to push the Jasper lead up to 79-70 with 5:32 remaining.

The exclamation point came on a Jasper fast break. After Darryl Crawford grabbed a rebound off a missed three-pointer, he found Rico Pickett up-court. Pickett made a layup and was slammed to floor by Brett Harvey. Harvey was charged with a flagrant foul. Pickett made both free throws. The Jaspers could not convert, turning the ball over on the next possession. With this, Manhattan was up 11 points with 4:40 left. 

With 1:36 left, Pickett went to the foul line and made two free throws. With these free throws, Pickett reached a new career-high.

Manhattan took its largest second half lead on a George Beamon free throw with 39 seconds left. A Garrett Kelly three-pointer cut the final score to 94-79.

Analysis

Manhattan played the way it should have played all season. The Jaspers played up-tempo and looked to score. Manhattan shared the ball, racking up 16 assists. The Jaspers applied defensive pressure, forcing 17 turnovers and swiping 10 steals. 

It is simple—when Manhattan plays aggressively and fast-paced, it plays well. The Jaspers have a team built for running, which can score in transition. The Jaspers need to play the same way tomorrow against Siena if they hope to have any chance at upsetting the top seed.

Free throws are also so important for Manhattan. The Jaspers have struggled all season to get to the line, let alone make the free throws. In this game, the Jaspers shot 38-of-46 from the charity stripe.

Pickett made 10-of-11 free throws, Beamon made 7-of-9, Crawford made 6-of-9, and Brandon Adams made 6-of-7. Andrew Gabriel shoots less than 50 percent from the line on the season. Gabriel made 3-of-4. Patrick Bouli and Antoine Pearson combined for 6-of-6 from the foul line. Manhattan will need to find ways to get to line against Siena, who fouls less than 14 times per game.

Loyola was able to stay in the game the same way it beat Manhattan in the regular season—the Greyhounds had many possessions with multiple chances. The Greyhounds had 13 offensive rebounds, many of them coming during the big comeback early in the second half. Manhattan continues to struggle on the boards.

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Shane Walker led Loyola with 26 points and eight rebounds. Walker shot 9-of-11 from the field and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. 

Jamal Barney had 13 points, 11 in the first half. Brett Harvey was the third Greyhound in double digits with 10 points on poor 2-of-9 shooting. 

Rico Pickett led all scorers with 33 points, a new career-high for the MAAC's leading scorer.

Darryl Crawford had his third double-double of the season against the Greyhounds with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Crawford, a senior, is now 24 points of Larry Lembo for seventh place on the Jaspers' all-time scoring list.

Brandon Adams had 14 points and George Beamon had 13 points off the bench. 

For more college basketball, follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter by clicking here .

Manhattan (10-18, 4-13 MAAC) held an embarrassingly small crowd on its 2010 senior night. The Jaspers hosted the Niagara Purple Eagles (17-13, 9-8 MAAC), who clinched fifth place in the MAAC.

Entering the game, Barry Rohrssen and every player on this Jasper team had never beaten Niagara (0-7).  

It looked like it would be yet another blowout. Niagara opened on a 12-5 run in the first 2:46. Manhattan fought its way back to take what would be its largest lead of the game at 19-14. 

Manhattan would quickly blow the slim lead and Niagara went up 35-28 with 2:48 remaining. The Jaspers were back in danger of falling way behind. 

A three-pointer by Rico Pickett sparked the Jasper offense. Brandon Adams made a two-point jumper with 29 seconds left to bring the halftime score to 35-33.

In the first meeting of the year between Manhattan and Niagara, Manhattan was close in the first half. Niagara went on a big run early in the second half to put the game out of reach.

This time, the Jaspers needed to come out strong in the second half.

Niagara got out to a comfortable 47-39 lead with 15:01 remaining, although the game was not out of reach. The Jaspers and the Purple Eagles continued to trade baskets after that point. 

With 7:37 left, Niagara made its big move. The Purple Eagles went on a 7-0 run in 1:07 to take a 73-58 lead. The run was capped by Tyrone Lewis' sixth three-pointer of the night. 

Manhattan looked drain and the game looked over.

Antoine Pearson responded to the three-pointer with a layup on the other end. After Lewis missed a three-pointer on the next possession, Andrew Gabriel was found wide-open underneath the basket—he missed the layup. 

Although the missed layup took even more energy out of the Jaspers, Niagara remained cold and sloppy, leading to the Jaspers getting back into the game. 

Following a Lewis turnover, Darryl Crawford made an and-one layup. Crawford converted the free throw and the Jaspers trailed 73-69 with 2:10 left. 

On the following possession, Crawford was fouled and went back to the line for two free throws. Crawford has had trouble all year hitting the big free throws to cut into leads late in the game.

Crawford missed them both. 

Andrew Gabriel came up with a big block on the defensive end and Manhattan came up the floor trailing by two possessions. Dumbly, the Jaspers took 28 seconds off the shot clock and Antoine Pearson was forced to put up a contested layup, which he missed. Although there could have been a foul, it was still not the shot the Jaspers should have looked for.

Manhattan needed to foul down 73-69 with 46 seconds left. The Jaspers wasted 16 seconds before fouling Lewis, who is a 77.1 percent free throw shooter. 

Amazingly, Lewis missed the front end of the one-and-one. Manhattan ran up the floor and Rico Pickett scored to cut the lead to 73-71 with 21.9 left. 

Patrick Bouli quickly fouled Lewis after the inbound pass. Lewis made the first to end a 6:10 minute scoring drought, but then missed the second. Manhattan trailed by three points with 20 seconds left.

In every close game that Manhattan has played, Rohrssen has decided not to draw up a play to get a basket. Instead, he just puts the ball in Rico Pickett's hands and hopes that Pickett can do something productive on his own. 

Pickett came up the floor and with nine seconds left put up a contested three-pointer. Pickett got stripped on his way up and Bilal Benn came away with the loose ball. Brandon Adams fouled Benn, a 75.6 percent free throw shooter, with 5.4 seconds left. 

Benn's first free throw fell on the front rim and came out. After Niagara took a timeout, Benn's second free throw bounced off the rim again. Pickett grabbed the defensive rebound and threw the ball ahead to Pearson, who was around halfcourt. 

It did not look like Niagara was doing it intentionally, but Pearson was fouled with 2.3 seconds left. 

Manhattan had the chance to make the first free throw and then go for an offensive rebound on a miss, or it could try to make both free throws and then foul and hope that the Niagara player would miss at least one free throw.

Unfortunately, the Jaspers would not be able to use either of these strategies as Pearson completely missed the first free throw. Pearson had to miss the second and hope for the best. 

Pearson got a perfect miss that bounced straight to Brandon Adams. Pearson streaked the left wing and caught a pass from Adams. As Pearson went up for a fadeaway shot, he was fouled by Lewis. 

It was hard to tell if Pearson's foot was on the line, or behind it. Regardless, the referee called Pearson's shot a two-pointer and he would shoot two free throws with 0.3 seconds left. 

Pearson sank the first free throw and had to miss the second and hope for a tip-in to tie the game. Again, Pearson got a perfect missed and the ball bounced straight off the rim to a streaking Rico Pickett who got a good look at the basket. Pickett's tip-in bounced against the backboard and then rolled off the rim.

Pickett collapsed to the ground lifelessly as Manhattan's comeback was officially over. 

Manhattan had its chance once again, but failed.

Tyrone Lewis led all scorers with 21 points. Lewis shot 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and 1-of-3 from the charity stripe. Niagara shot 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) on free throws, including 1-of-6 in the final two minutes. In tonight's game, Lewis became the first MAAC player to score 1,500 points, grab 500 rebounds, swipe 200 steals, and dish out 200 assists in his career. 

Kashief Edwards, Anthony Nelson, and Scooter Gillette all scored in double digits. Edwards had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Most of his points came due to horrible Jasper defense. Nelson had 12 points, six rebonds, and eight assists. Gillette had 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including two monstrous dunks in the second half. 

Niagara lost the rebounding battle 43-30.

Darryl Crawford led Manhattan in his final game at Draddy Gymnasium with 18 points. Crawford shot 8-of-14 from the field and a poor 2-of-6 on free throws, including two big misses late in the game. Crawford also had four rebounds and five assists.

Rico Pickett scored 17 points, 11 of them in the second half. Pickett shot 6-of-15 from the field and grabbed six rebounds.

Brandon Adams recorded the third double-double of his career and the first of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. This was the first time Adams had a double-double against a team besides Hofstra.

Antoine Pearson scored 13 points and had two assists. One of the assists came on a pretty pass following a spin move that lead to a Brandon Adams dunk. Pearson shot 5-of-8 from the line. Two of the misses were intentional. 

Mohamed Koita and Andrew Gabriel each had horrible games. They combined for zero points on 0-of-6 shooting. Together, they missed five layups. Koita played horrible defense and was responsible for at least a couple of Lewis' open three-pointers. 

Patrick Bouli had nine points on three three-pointers. Bouli also grabbed seven rebounds in his final game at Draddy.

The leaving of the five Jasper seniors is definite, and at this point, so should the leaving of head coach Barry Rohrssen. Rorhssen is 51-68 to this point in his four years with the Jaspers. He has had only one winning season. This better have been Rohrssen's farewell, as well as the seniors'.

Niagara finishes the regular season season at Fairfield (19-9, 12-5).

Manhattan goes back on the road to play Loyola (12-16, 5-12). The Jaspers will play Loyola again the in the first round of the MAAC tournament.

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