Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (February 15, 2007)- Marist's Will Whittington tallied 20 of his game-high 27 points in the first half as the Red Foxes defeated Manhattan, 73-57, tonight at the McCann Center on the Marist campus. The Jaspers fall to 12-14, 9-7 in MAAC play, while Marist improves to 20-7, 12-4 in MAAC play.
After defeating the Red Foxes, 75-74, earlier this season at Draddy Gym, the Jaspers knew that MAAC-leading Marist would give them its best effort, but Manhattan came out the gates with intensity on the defensive side of the court, holding Marist scoreless for the first 4:40 of the game, and held an 8-7 lead with 11:47 left in the opening stanza before two Wilfred Benjamin free throws gave Marist the lead, 9-8, with 11:09 to play in the first half. After a Patrick Bouli three gave Manhattan back the lead, Marist scored five straight points to build a three point, 14-11, lead with 7:11 to play before halftime. The lead was up to six, 23-17, 5:11 before the break before the Jaspers used an 11-4 run, capped by another Bouli three, to take a one point, 28-27, lead with 1:49 left before halftime. Whittington would respond for Marist, scoring the Red Foxes last seven points, including two three pointers, to take a 34-26 lead into the locker room.
Whittington opened the second half by making all three free throws after being fouled while shooting a three pointer to increase the lead to nine point, 37-28, with 18:54 left in the game. Manhattan would cut the lead to six points on two occasions, the final time after an Arturo Dubois made the score 51-45 with 10:45 to play, but the Red Foxes would score the game's next nine points to push the lead to double-digits. Manhattan would not cut the lead to less than 10 the rest of the game.
Guy Ngarndi paced Manhattan with 10 points, while Dubois scored eight points while pulling down a game-high eight rebounds.
Jared Jordan added 10 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds to help Whittington lead Marist to its 20th win on the season.
Manhattan gets back in action on Saturday, February 17, traveling to Ypsilanti, Mich. to take on Eastern Michigan at 4:00 p.m. in a game from the ESPNU O'Reilly's BracketBuster event.
