Box Score
ALBANY, N.Y. - The Manhattan men's basketball team could not hold on to its four point halftime advantage as the Jaspers fell 78-61 to top-seeded Siena (25-6) on Saturday in the MAAC Tournament Quarterfinals at the Times Union Center in Albany. Rico Pickett led Manhattan (11-20) in scoring for the 19th time this season with 18 points. Senior guard Darryl Crawford posted 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Crawford ends his four year career in Riverdale eighth on both the program's career scoring list (1,431) and steals list (140).
Manhattan got rolling early behind Crawford's lead. The New York City native scored the first seven points of the game as the Jaspers jumped out to a 16-4 advantage just over seven minutes into the contest. Pickett capped the surge burying a fade away jumper from the corner in front of the Siena bench at 12:53.
Manhattan's defense also slowed down the Saints who entered the contest averaging a league best 75.6 points per contest and 46.3% field goal mark. Siena was held to just one field goal over the opening seven and a half minutes.
The Jaspers shot a hot 54.8% (17-31) in the first half as they carried a 40-36 advantage into the break. Siena converted only 34.2% (13-38) of its field goals in the first stanza, but utilized 17 points from 2010 MAAC Player of the Year Alex Franklin to hang with the Jaspers. Pickett and Crawford each tallied 10 points in the first 20 minutes.
Franklin finished with a game-high 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
The Jaspers hot shooting started to cool down in the second half. After trading the lead twice, Franklin sank a lay up to go up 50-49 and ignite a scoring surge. The spark began a 19-4 run over the next nine minutes as the Saints held off the potential upset for their 36th straight victory at the Times Union Center.
Jaspers' senior Patrick Bouli contributed nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from downtown, along with four rebounds. Classmates Brandon Adams recorded five rebounds and Antoine Pearson added seven points and two assists off the bench.
The Saints capitalized on 26 second chance points and outrebounded Manhattan 48-32. Sophomore Owen Wignot led the Siena bench with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting with three 3-pointers.
Manhattan finishes out the campaign 11-20 overall. The Jaspers will graduate an accomplished senior class, including 1,000-point scorers Crawford and Pearson, along with Adams, Bouli and walk-on Victor Jackson.
