RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Iona buried 16 3-pointers and shot a sweltering 66.7% from the field to spoil Senior Night for the Manhattan men's basketball team on Wednesday at Draddy Gymnasium. Jaspers' sophomore guard George Beamon scored a game-high 21 points and graduate student Demetrius Jemison added 19 points in Manhattan's 102-65 loss to the Gaels.
"We have to guard people for 40 minutes," explained Manhattan head coach Barry Rohrssen. "It doesn't matter how many points we put up, we may have scored more points than usual, but it comes down to getting some stops."
Iona (17-10, 11-5 MAAC) shot 73.1% (19-26) with 10 3-pointers in the first half to carry a 20 point lead into intermission. Gaels' senior guard Rashon Dwight scored all 12 of his points in the first half and freshman reserve Sean Armand posted all 13 of his points in the opening stanza leading Iona into the break with a 56-36 advantage.
The Gaels shots kept falling in the second half as nine Iona players worked their way into the scoring column. Five Gaels posted double-figures, including a team-high 20 points from senior point guard Scott Machado and a season-high 12 points from junior guard Trinity Fields. Machado doubled his career-high with six 3-pointers and Fields shot a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Manhattan forward Rhamel Brown provided 12 of the Jaspers' 14 bench points. Iona's reserves had a field day combining for 52 points with sophomore big man Chris Plecher contributing 13 points.
Jaspers' junior guard Kidani Brutus knocked down all three of Manhattan's 3-pointers in 29 minutes of action.
Manhattan looks to bounce back on Saturday when the Jaspers travel to Long Island for their Sears BracketBuster contest with Stony Brook. Tip off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
