Manhattan Basketball

Tip-Off: Wednesday Dec. 30, 8 PM @ Memorial Gym; Nashville, Tennessee

The Jaspers are 2-11 against BCS opponents since 2001. Both of those wins have come in postseason tournaments. They upset fourth seeded Florida in 2004, and defeated Maryland, the overall one seed in the 2006 NIT.

Since Barry Rohrssen took over in the 2006-07 season, the Jaspers one game against a "Power 6" school was against Rutgers, where they picked up a 73-67 loss when a final minute comeback fell short.

The Jaspers (6-5, 1-1 MAAC) will need everything to go right for them if they want to upset Vanderbilt (8-3).

Keys For The Commodores

Take Advantage Of The Post —The Jaspers have no outstanding big man on defense or on offense. The Commodores will need to exploit this advantage to take a commanding lead on Manhattan. A.J. Ogilvy and Jeffrey Taylor need to have big scoring and defensive games. They must stay out of foul trouble.

Hit Open Three's — The Jaspers have not been good at defending the perimeter this season. Vanderbilt has three good three-point shooters, and they will need to hit the open three-pointers that Manhattan gives them. John Jenkins is the Commodores' best three-point shooter (42.3), and he will likely get extra playing time due to Manhattan's poor perimeter defense. 

Keys For The Jaspers

Force Turnovers —The Manhattan guards have shown quick hands, with four different guards averaging over a steal per game. The Jaspers average 7.6 steals per game. They need to play aggressive defense and force turnovers early.

Take and Make the 3 —Antoine Pearson, Patrick Bouli, and Nick Walsh are Manhattan's biggest threats from beyond the arc. Pearson leads the team shooting at an even 40 percent from three-point range.

Against William & Mary, Manhattan had a stretch where it seemed like every possession resulted in a made three-pointer from either Pearson or Walsh. The Jaspers will need to be able to shoot like they did against Vandy. Manhattan has multiple threats from three-point range, and they need to exploit this advantage. 

Drive On Ogilvy —A.J. Ogilvy of Vanderbilt can be counted on to put up double digits against a team like Manhattan, and he can potentially have an outburst like he did against Missouri where he scored a season-high 25 points. It will not be tough for him to score against the Jaspers with Manhattan having a weakness in post defense. The only way for the Jaspers to get around him is to get him in foul trouble and make him spend some time on the bench. The Jaspers cannot be afraid to drive on Ogilvy and draw fouls.

Here's some proof that statistics don't always do justice to the worth of a player: Patrick Bouli is averaging a mere 0.7 steals per game.

Now a senior at Manhattan College, Bouli has been the Jaspers' best defender this season. He might not be a notorious pickpocket, but his tenacity and ability to suffocate his opponent are unmatched by any of his teammates.

Although it wasn't the first instance, Wednesday night's game against Hofstra proved that Bouli cannot sit on the bench when the Jaspers' opponent has an established scorer.

Charles Jenkins was that scorer on Wednesday. The junior from Queens, NY entered the contest averaging 24.8 points in games in which he played 33 or more minutes. He scored nine points in games against Farmingdale and Elon, but saw limited playing time because the Pride were on the winning end of a blowout.

Kansas and UConn did not have an answer for Jenkins, who scored 23 against the Jayhawks and 25 against the Huskies.

Manhattan did.

By the end of Wednesday's game, Jenkins' statline read: 3-14 FG for nine points in 36 minutes. Bouli only played 25 minutes—don't ask me, ask Barry Rohrssen—but in that span, Jenkins' sole field goal came on a Jasper turnover in the open court.

Jenkins simply could not get a high percentage shot against Bouli, who fought his way through picks set by the burly Miklos Szabo and Halil Kancevic to stay with Hofstra's star. Most of Jenkins' shots were forced.

When Bouli sat on the bench, Rico Pickett and Antoine Pearson struggled to keep pace with Jenkins. They couldn't get through the picks that Bouli so easily evaded, and the defense needed to shift to help them. As a result, Jenkins was able to total four assists by passing to an open big or wing.

Jenkins' other two field goals fell when Bouli was on the bench. The junior scored three of his points on the line in five attempts, two of which were awarded to him after the referees called a questionable foul against Bouli on a three-on-one fastbreak—you can always count on Bouli to be back on defense.

The Cameroon native has averaged a meager 25.3 minutes per game for the guard-heavy Jaspers, but Manhattan coach Barry Rohrssen should consider increasing Bouli's playing time—it's alright to sacrifice offense for defense, especially against teams with scorers like Jenkins.

Morgan State and Reggie Holmes, who is averaging 24.8 points per game, will host Bouli and the Jaspers on Saturday. Holmes is in for a long day if Rohrssen lets Bouli play the 32 minutes that Morgan State's star averages.

The Manhattan Jaspers, coming off what might have been the ugliest game ever, travel to Baltimore this weekend to face the Morgan State Bears.

In last year's meeting, Manhattan waited until there were nine seconds left to win the game on an Antoine Pearson layup.

Morgan State (5-4, 1-0 MEAC), led by Reggie Holmes (24.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG), looks for redemption against the Jaspers. The Bears have already had success against Arkansas and Louisville, although they fell short of a win at Freedom Hall.

Manhattan (5-4, 1-1 MAAC), has been extremely inconsistent this season and it is hard to predict how they will play against a fairly good team like Morgan State. 

Most likely, this will be a win for Morgan State. However, if Manhattan does certain things right, they have a slim chance of being victorious.

Keys For The Morgan State Bears

Take Advantage Of Size In The Post

Kevin Thompson has been averaging 13.8 PPG and 12.2 RPG. At 6'8" and 240 pounds, he is taller than every Manhattan player except for Laurence Jolicoeur and Kevin Laue. Laue barely plays and Jolicoeur is thin as a stick. The Bears will need Thompson to exploit his advantage in the post.

Don't Be Afraid To Put The Ball In The Hands Of Reggie Holmes

Reggie Holmes, the No. 5 scorer in the nation, has the ability to dominate the game. He has failed to reach double digits only once this season, and that was in a game where he was in foul trouble from the start and only played 16 minutes. In those 16 minutes, he was still able to score nine points.

Holmes should be able to handle the Manhattan defense and put up typical numbers.

Keys For The Manhattan Jaspers

Minimize Reggie Holmes' Opportunities

Reggie Holmes will most likely have a typical game and score upwards of 20 points. However, there is one way for Manhattan to potentially minimize the damage that Holmes does. Patrick Bouli is The Jaspers' best defender and he should guard Holmes to limit him to as few points as possible.

Share The Ball

By "share the ball," I don't exactly mean to put big numbers into the assist column. In the Jaspers' last game, they barely passed the ball on offense and were lifeless. Manhattan only had three assists from two different players. They need to learn to be less selfish.

Tip-Off: Saturday December 12, 4 PM

The Manhattan Jaspers and The Hofstra Pride, from two of the better non-BCS conferences, will face off on Wednesday night. 

Both teams have won four of their last five games. Neither team was picked to do particularly well, but both have played well so far.

Hofstra (5-3, 1-0 CAA) caught the nation's eye by playing Connecticut close on the road and almost pulling out a miraculous victory.

Manhattan (5-3, 1-1 MAAC) has not had a signature win or game, but the Jaspers are on a hot streak ever since Junior College transfer Rico Pickett returned from a two-game suspension.

Keys For The Pride

Big men cannot get into foul trouble. The Jaspers don't have as much size as the Pride. If their big men get into foul trouble, it will open up opportunities that the Jasper big men normally would not have in the post.

Conversely, if Hofstra gets the Jasper big men in foul trouble, it will open up even more opportunities for them if they force Djibril Coulibaly and Kevin Laue to play more.

The Pride need to take advantage of open three-point shots. The Jaspers tend to have poor perimeter defense. The Pride have two great three-point shooters in Cornelius Vines and Charles Jenkins.

Jenkins shoots 48.4 percent from three. Although Vines is only shooting 27.5 percent from three this year, he has the ability to get hot from beyond the arc if given open looks.

He shot 33.2 percent last year and hit six threes in one game against Connecticut this year.

Keys For The Jaspers

The Jaspers need to find a way to hold Charles Jenkins to a minimal amount of points.

I would suggest giving Patrick Bouli extra playing time in Wednesday's game. Although Bouli takes away from the offense, he is by far the best defender for the Jaspers.

The best way to keep Jenkins from a huge game would be to have him guarded closely by Bouli. Bouli might be able to keep Jenkins from driving and should be able to stick close to him beyond the arc.

The Jaspers cannot afford to give Cornelius Vines open threes and let him get hot. As I said before, Vines will not miss if he gets hot. Pearson is the second-best defender for the Jaspers. He should be guarding Vines.

Tip-Off: Wednesday, Dec. 9, 7 PM

Manhattan ended their Western New York trip with a win against Canisius on Sunday Afternoon.

Led by Rico Pickett, Manhattan (5-3, 1-1) got hold of an early lead and never looked back. Within the first three minutes the Jaspers were up 8-2. 

Manhattan struggled to build on their 20-10 lead in the first half. They have struggled all year to build on leads early in the game. Pickett scored the final eight points of the half for the Jaspers, who went into halftime with a nine point lead, the score being 32-23.

The Jaspers defense was strong in the first half. Canisius (4-3, 1-1) only hit 28.6 percent of their shots while Manhattan forced 12 turnovers. Manhattan would finish the game with 22 points off of Canisius turnovers.

Manhattan jumped out of the gates in the second half with a 16-6 run led by Darryl Crawford. They led by double digits for the rest of the game.

Manhattan would go up 19 on a three-pointer by Rico Pickett. Pickett led the Jaspers in scoring with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field.

Manhattan finally got their big men scoring in this contest. Andrew Gabriel had 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Brandon Adams added six points on 3-of-4 shooting and five rebounds of his own before fouling out. Manhattan scored 42 points in the paint.

Nick Walsh got off to a hot start scoring five of the eight points in the game. However, he would finish with only five points. He added three steals, two rebounds, and two assists.

Antoine Pearson only played ten minutes in today's game. His limited playing time could have been due to foul trouble or an injury suffered early in the game. Pearson had seven points and four rebounds.

Darryl Crawford had 19 points, six rebounds, and five assists off the bench. Crawford had an outstanding second half and helped the Jaspers gain a commanding lead.

For Canisius, Frank Turner had 13 points, six assists, and four rebounds; Julius Coles had 15 points and seven rebounds; Tomas Vazquez-Simmons had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Canisius' next game is against Bowling Green on Saturday Dec. 12

Manhattan's next game is on the road, Wednesday Dec. 9 at Hofstra.

Manhattan did not start conference play exactly the way they had hoped for. 

They stayed close with Niagara for the first 26 minutes of the game, and then fell apart for the final 14.

Niagara, led by Bilal Benn, turned up the heat in the final 14 minutes of play outscoring Manhattan 40-20. Benn scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Niagara victory.

Manhattan's Antoine Pearson scored 17 on 6 of 12 shooting to lead the Jaspers.

On Sunday, Manhattan (4-3, 0-1) turns their focus to the Canisius Golden Griffins as they finish their Upstate New York trip. 

Canisius (4-2, 1-0) has struggled from beyond the arc this season (26%), Manhattan's biggest defensive weakness. Julius Coles has been their only consistently good three-point shooter. Manhattan must play him tight to keep him from taking over the game from beyond the arc.

Canisius puts up similar numbers to Manhattan. Tomorrow afternoon's match should be an exciting one.

Canisius averages 70 PPG to Manhattan's 67, and both teams average about 36 rebounds a game. 

Both teams have similar field goal percentages. As mentioned before, Canisius only makes 26% of their three-pointers. Manhattan hits almost 34% of theirs.

If Manhattan looks to win tomorrow, they must keep Canisius—especially Julius Coles—from knocking down shots from beyond the arc.

Also, if they want to win, they must make their free throws. Against Niagara, they only hit 15 of 28 free throws. Antoine Pearson, who has been spectacular from the stripe up until his game at Niagara where he made 5 of 11 free throws, must convert his opportunities from the stripe.

Tip-Off: Sunday Dec. 6, 2 PM

Barry Rorhssen has struggled on the road in his reign as head coach of the Manhattan College basketball team, so these next four weeks will not be the greatest for him.

Including a 1-1 record on the road this year, Rohrssen is 20-27 on the road since he came to Manhattan College. 

Despite having troubles against Niagara in the past, this year—especially this game—might be their turn to finish victorious. 

Niagara has struggled early on this season. Unfortunately for them, Tyrone Lewis has missed some time and has had to trim his game down to mainly shooting due to a lower leg injury.

Tyrone has mainly been shooting three pointers since his return. In the past against Manhattan, his ability to drive has allowed him to dominate the Jaspers. If the Jaspers stepped up on him, he would drive for an easy layup. If the Jaspers gave him any room, he would knock down his jump shots.

His limitations will work to Manhattan's advantage, and give the Jaspers a chance to shut him down tonight. 

Another problem for Manhattan in past meetings with Niagara has been the Purple Eagles' advantage of having a good big man. With the graduation of Benson Egemonye, Niagara no longer has that strong presence inside. 

Niagara will need contributions from Rob Garrison and Bilal Benn if they are looking for a win over Manhattan.

On the other hand, Manhattan will need to continue to use its improved, quicker offense. With the quick offense, Manhattan is able to put many more points on the board.

Niagara can score, and they will only be able to score more as Tyrone Lewis gets healthier. Manhattan will need to be able to keep up with them on defense if they look to win.

Lastly, Manhattan has struggled to defend the perimeter this year. Niagara can shoot from beyond the arc, but they are not outstanding. Most likely, they will be able to hit most open three-pointers. Manhattan must defend the perimeter.

Tip Off: Friday Dec. 4, 7 PM 

The Battle of the Bronx turned into the Massacre of the Bronx. From the opening tip until the final buzzer, the Jaspers were in control.

Manhattan (4-2) jumped out to an 11-2 lead four minutes into the game. The Jaspers were forcing turnovers and running the floor. Fordham knew this was going to be a long night.

Fordham (1-4) fought their way back into the game, an Alberto Estwick layup cutting the lead to 14-8.

Then it was Manhattan's turn to turn on the gas. Manhattan had Fordham doubled up in score as the final seconds ticked away in the first half. Antoine Pearson brought the ball up the court. After a quick crossover brought him over the timeline, Pearson chucked up a half-hearted three-point shot that banked, in giving the Jaspers a 39-18 lead entering halftime. 

In the second half, Manhattan was unable to score as much as in the first half. Luckily for them, Fordham remained unable to hit any shots. 

Fordham did not make one three-pointer the whole game (0-of-11). Fordham has struggled from the stripe this whole season, and it continued last night. They only hit 18 of their 37 free throws, leading to an atrocious 48.6 percent—their worst free throw percentage this season.

Jio Fontan and Brenton Butler were held to nearly nothing. Fontan had only four points, while Butler tallied up four. The two of them combined made two of 21 shots. 

The only player that Fordham could count on for scoring was Chris Gaston. He was the only Ram in double digits. In addition to his scoring, he added 16 rebounds and four steals.

On the other side, Manhattan had everything clicking. Rico Pickett made his first appearance at Draddy since his two-game suspension. Rico had 14 points off the bench.

Darryl Crawford got the Jaspers going early by scoring the first five points of the game. Crawford finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Kevin Laue played four minutes in Saturday night's game. He showed everybody watching the disadvantage to having only one arm. Whenever a missed shot came to Laue, he had to attempt to tip the ball to another teammate. The Jaspers have got to figure out a way to solve this problem if they want Laue to become a stronger presence.

Finally, Barry Rohrssen realized that Djibril Coulibaly is not good! Coulibaly played only seven minutes and got one point on a free throw. If Djibril wants more playing time, he has to bulk up and learn how to finish lay-ups and rebound.

Andrew Gabriel and Brandon Adams both fouled out, but both had contributions to the Jasper scoring.

Gabriel scored six points on 2-of-4 shooting. He also had four rebounds and three blocks.

Adams had eight points and six rebounds.

Freshman George Beamon showed Jasper fans that he has the potential to grow into a good player. However, Beamon's anxiety showed.

Beamon had the ball on the left wing and made a nice move to create some room. Beamon threw up an awkward shot and missed completely. Looks of "What the heck was that?" appeared on the faces of the crowd. 

Later in the game, Beamon made a nice move down low for an and-1. Beamon converted the free throw and finished with three points.

Last, but certainly not least, was the MVP of the 102nd Battle of the Bronx—Antoine Pearson. Pearson led the Jaspers throughout the game and was aggressive finding ways to the hoop. 

Antoine had 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting along with three rebounds and five steals. 

Manhattan now starts a five-week, seven-game road trip including games against Niagara, Morgan State, and Vanderbilt. They will finally come home on Jan. 4 to face the Rider Broncs.

They will play next on Friday Dec. 4 at Niagara.

After running out of the gates with a 14-1 lead, things slowly unraveled for the Manhattan Jaspers. Their shooting started to cool off, while American started controlling the ball and hitting their shots.

Manhattan (3-2) eventually lost the lead and trailed 29-27 at the half.

The Jaspers broke a tie game and took a 44-34 on a 12-2 run in the second half—but American (0-6) was not done fighting.

With 4:12 remaining in the second half, Riley Grafft hit two free throws cut the Jasper lead to four points. Manhattan's Brandon Adams responded with a two point jump shot on the other end, and the Jaspers never looked back and went on to win 69-62.

Jasper fans should be happy that their team won, but American has struggled to against many teams. This is a game that Manhattan should have won by double digits. 

Keys To The Manhattan Victory

1) Brandon Adams is back! The Jasper forward made his season debut on Monday against Florida Atlantic where he scored 10 points. In that game, Adams hit all six of his free throws. Against American, Adams scored four points and added five rebounds and three steals on the defensive end.

2) Darryl Crawford is out of his slump. In the previous two games, Crawford was averaging 10.5 points and shooting 23% from the field. In addition, he had picked up eight turnovers over the course of those two games—six against Florida Atlantic. Against American, Crawford scored 26 points with six. rebounds and three steals. Crawford shot 9 of 17 from the field.

3) When needed, Rohrssen let Pearson take control of the game. Pearson had 12 points plus six rebounds, seven assists, and five steals. Six of Pearson's points came during the 12-2 second half run.

4) Rico Pickett is back from his suspension. Pickett added 13 points on Wednesday and filled a hole in the Jaspers starting lineup.

5) The Jaspers defense forced turnovers. American turned the ball over 23 times last night. The 23 turnovers led to 29 Jasper points. 

Florida Atlantic 66, Manhattan 73

Finally!

The lethargic "pass...dribble...dribble...pass...dribble...dribble" motion set vanished and Barry Rohrssen finally let his Manhattan College Jaspers play a fluid up-tempo offense fueled by constant movement and screens.

It's much easier, as the Jaspers proved, to put points on the board when you spend less time standing around on the perimeter.

Also, it's not a coincidence that Manhattan's free-throw attempts skyrocketed in this game plan. Fouls will be drawn when players attack the basket. The Jaspers hit 23-of-31 foul shots.

Florida Atlantic had some pesky guards who suffocated Manhattan defensively at points, but the new-look offense helped the Jaspers prevail.

Defensively, Manhattan still struggled on the perimeter, but they didn't surrender as many open looks as they did in Saturday's game. The Owls shot 8-of-23 from long range.

Individual Player Analysis

Rohrssen chose Antoine Pearson as his primary point guard tonight, and the senior produced his second straight stellar game offensively.

Pearson only took eight shots from the floor, but he converted on four. He didn't tally any treys after connecting on 5-of-6 in Saturday's match, but he was just as effective on offense by penetrating the lane and either getting fouled or making a flashy pass to a teammate.

Pearson only had four assists, but a combination of fouls and mishandles detracted from his potentially high total. With phenomenal court vision, quickness, and handles, Pearson should run the point even when Rico Pickett—who should move to the two—returns from his suspension. His 18 points and nine boards tonight helped his cause.

Andrew Gabriel still should not be anywhere other than the low post, but because of the fast pace of the offense, his presence on the perimeter was not detrimental. Manhattan would benefit from a more active Gabriel—he's there to corral rebounds, yet his meager total of 17 rebounds in four games is insufficient.

Darryl Crawford might have forced a few too many shots en route to his second straight bad game from the field (4-of-15). That being said, Crawford took many good shots, but simply got unlucky with the roll. He's probably Manhattan's best scorer—Pickett hasn't shown much yet—and the Jaspers can expect him to be resilient.

Patrick Bouli is Manhattan's best defender and continued to be more aggressive on the offensive end tonight. The guard has a great stroke on his jumper, which the Jaspers would love to see six or seven times per game.

The "King of the O-Board" had a relatively quiet night on the offensive glass until his second half tip-slam. Plagued by foul trouble, Laurence Jolicoeur played a solid game. The 6'9" center scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and grabbed six rebounds, two of which were offensive.

Manhattan's best hustler, Brandon Adams, received his first minutes of the season tonight and played very well. He was a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe and, as usual, provided defensive intensity.

One suggestion for Adams: he forces too many shots—yes, he only took four shots and hit two of them, but the two misses and even the one make were forced—and should look to kick to a shooter when he has two defenders on him.

The Owls subdued the sharp-shooting Nick Walsh tonight, but the 5'9" guard helped the Jaspers by grabbing five rebounds.

George Beamon is very athletic. He was a prolific scorer in high school. Although he hasn't shown much statistically, it is clear that he is talented and will be a reliable contributor in years to come. He just needs to be more assertive on offense.

Other

Raymond Taylor's only 5'6" but he is a player. A very good, quick player. Manhattan didn't have an answer for Taylor's speed, and if the Owls could hit their open shots, Taylor would have recorded a double-double.

Mike Jarvis has a really, really, really, really, really shiny head.

Jarvis always looks angry—maybe the fact that his Owls never possessed a lead tonight could account for that.

Photo from Stockton Photo