Box Score
BRIDGEPORT, CONN. - The Manhattan men's basketball team came up on the short end of a 60-54 decision to Fairfield (14-10, 9-4 MAAC) on Thursday at Webster Bank Arena. Stags' senior Rakim Sanders posted a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds as Manhattan (17-9, 10-4 MAAC) suffered its second straight loss. The Jaspers were led by junior guard George Beamon who posted double-figures for the 40th straight contest finishing with 19 points and seven rebounds.
The contest was slowed to a snails pace in the first half as both teams combined for only 16 field goals. Fairfield was first out of the gate scoring the first eight points. The Jaspers offense warmed up for a five minute span midway through the stanza as they countered the Stags initial surge with a 12-0 run. Senior guard Kidani Brutus got Manhattan going with a 3-pointer and Beamon put the finishing touches on the spurt with a three followed by a layup at 8:12 to give Manhattan its largest lead of the contest, 14-10.
Sanders rallied for six straight points to regain the advantage for Fairfield and then junior guard Desmond Wade capped the 9-0 run with his first of three 3-pointers sending the Stags on top 19-14. Wade had 10 of his 13 points in the first half helping Fairfield carry a 26-18 advantage into the break, it was the Jaspers lowest scoring half of the season.
Manhattan fell behind 15 points by the 11:20 mark in the second half before mounting a 12-3 surge to pull within 47-41. Beamon had six of the 12 points and sophomore point guard Michael Alvarado buried a 3-pointer during the run to close the gap. Alvarado scored 11 of his 13 points in the final 20 minutes.
The Jaspers were capitalizing on their free-throws down the stretch, but had only two field goals in the last seven minutes of action. Eleven of the Jaspers last 15 points came at the charity stripe as Manhattan clawed within striking distance. Sophomore forward Rhamel Brown posted both of the Jaspers buckets down the stretch to cut the lead as slim as four points with 24 seconds to go. But Manhattan ran out of time as Sanders and junior guard Derek Needham sank their free-throws in the clutch to hold on for the win.
Needham finished with nine points and he dished out a game-high five assists. Brown led the Manhattan bench with 10 points and six rebounds. His three blocks increased his league leading total to 69, surpassing the 68 shots he swatted last season which was the second most for a single season in program history.
Manhattan converted 19-of-25 (76.0%) free-throw attempts, but shot 36.4% (16-44) from the field. The Stags were slightly better shooting 39.6% (21-53) for the game.
The Jaspers have a quick turnaround as the visit Saint Peter's on Saturday. Tip off is slated for 2 p.m. in Jersey City.
