Box Score
Click Here to Watch Alvarado's Buzzer Beater
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Jaspers' freshman point guard Michael Alvarado banked in the game winning 3-pointer from 65-feet out to send Manhattan (4-18, 2-9 MAAC) off with a 60-59 victory over Marist (4-19, 3-8 MAAC) on Sunday at the McCann Center. The Jaspers received a career-high 12 point effort from junior center Djibril Coulibaly who shot 6-for-7 from the field. Sophomore guard George Beamon recorded his team leading seventh double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), while junior guard Kidani Brutus finished with 12 points, burying four 3-pointers.
"It always feels good to win," explained Alvarado. "Fairfield was a tough loss, we should have won that game, but we made up for it today. We all played together and down to the last minute. It is like Coach (Rohrssen) always says, we need to play all 40 minutes and we did that today."
With the Jaspers trailing 59-57, Marist sophomore guard Devin Price missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity at the free-throw line, which allowed Manhattan forward Demetrius Jemison to grab the rebound and call a timeout with 2.0 seconds on the clock. Coming out of their final timeout, Beamon inbounded the ball on the Marist baseline. His precise pass caught Alvarado on the run as he dribbled up the court and launched the miraculous 3-pointer.
"With two seconds on the clock I knew I had at least one dribble, maybe two dribbles if I could sneak it in. After that I just let it go and hoped it went in," said Alvarado.
It was the freshman point guard's second 3-pointer of the contest. Alvarado finished with six assists and did not commit a turnover in 34 minutes of action.
The hard-fought contest featured 14 lead changes and eight ties. The Jaspers trailed 25-24 at intermission, hanging in the game with eight points and six rebounds from Beamon in the first half. Marist led for the majority of the second half and did not trail for all but 28 seconds in the final 15 minutes.
"Obviously, it was an exciting game, which went down to the proverbial wire. Give Marist a lot of credit, they came out and played hard, competed. This is a difficult place to play at times," stated Manhattan head coach Barry Rohrssen.
Marist knocked down five of its nine 3-pointers in the second stanza, including one from sophomore forward Dorvell Carter with 14:15 remaining to give the Red Foxes their largest lead 41-35. Carter led Marist with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Coulibaly helped keep the Jaspers close shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in the second half. Manhattan responded after Price's second 3-pointer of half, which gave the Red Foxes a 56-51 lead with 3:18 to go. The Jaspers used a big 3-pointer from Alvarado from the corner, and then Beamon gave Manhattan a 57-56 lead converting a 3-point play with 2:22 left in the contest.
Carter answered back for Marist with another 3-pointer 28 seconds later to give the Red Foxes a two point advantage at the 1:54 mark. Manhattan missed three opportunities to either tie the contest or take the lead, before Alvarado performed his last second heroics.
"Michael will probably get a lot of credit for that shot, but one of the other things that impressed me today was that he had six assists and no turnovers, which is a pretty good stat line for a point guard. We are proud of him for that," said Rohrssen.
The evenly matched contest featured Manhattan shooting 42.1% from the field to Marist's 40.7% field goal mark. The Red Foxes hit nine three pointers, while Manhattan sank eight from downtown. Neither team fared well from the free-throw line each shooting roughly 40%.
Marist outrebounded Manhattan 40-33, despite Jemison's eight rebounds. Jemison, a graduate student from Alabama, contributed nine points on 4-for-7 shooting to the Jaspers' victory. Manhattan's bench also stepped up outscoring Marist 20-6, which included Coulibaly's 12 points, Nick Walsh's two 3-pointers and a bucket from freshman forward Rhamel Brown.
The Jaspers return to action on Friday when Manhattan travels to Siena for a men's and women's doubleheader at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. The Manhattan women face the Saints at 5 p.m. and the men's game will tip off approximately 7 p.m.
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