MEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO MARIST, 73-57 - Manhattan University Athletics

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 20^th 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.