Albany, N.Y. (January 17, 2008) ? The men's basketball team fell to Siena College today in MAAC play. Darryl Crawford led the Jaspers in scoring, dropping 16 points off of 7-8 shooting from the floor. Rashad Green anchored Manhattan's defense with 11 boards.
At the start of the game, Andrew Gabriel came out of the gate strong as he scored five of Manhattan's first seven points. Gabriel's buckets put Manhattan ahead 7-5 going into the first media timeout, with 15:54 left in the half. But Siena put together a run of their own as they built a lead on the Jaspers. The Saints shot 41% from the field as Manhattan went into the locker room trailing, 31-16.
Gabriel finished the half with seven points as he was 3-4 from the field. Crawford came off the bench in the first half to score six points going 3-3. The Jaspers knew they were facing a large deficit and wanted to chip away it early.
As the second half began, Siena built on their lead more as Manhattan was searching for an answer to the Saints three point shooting. Crawford hit a floating lay-up with 15:04 left in the game and Antoine Pearson came down and scored a bucket while drawing the foul. After Pearson converted the free throw, Manhattan was trying to chip away at their 16 point deficit.
With just 6:27 left in the game, Manhattan decided it was now or never. The Jaspers were down, 65-38 and needed to come up with some points. Devon Austin hit a deep three pointer to spark Manhattan's run. The Jaspers defense held Siena scoreless for three and a half minutes where they went on a 7-0 run, and started eliminating their deficit. Nick Walsh came into the game to hit two three pointers but it wasn't enough as Manhattan would ultimately fall. The Jaspers closed out the game with an 18-4 run in the defeat.
Crawford led the team in scoring for the second time in three games as he dropped a team high 14 points at Canisius. Gabriel finished the game with nine points and seven rebounds while Green added three assists to go with his 11 boards. Nick Walsh went 2-3 from three point range to finish the game with six points.
The Jaspers will return to action on Saturday, January 19 where they will come home after a long road-trip to play Rider University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
