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Riverdale, NY - Bucknell withstood a career-high 28 points from senior Shane Richards (New York, NY / York Prep) and a late Manhattan rally in posting an 80-67 victory at Draddy Gymnasium.
The Bison improve to 3-1 while the Jaspers fall to 0-2.
Manhattan sprinted out of the gates to the tune of a 13-7 advantage following a Richards jumper at the 15:10 mark of the first half. However, Bucknell would methodically cut into the lead while using a proficient 87.5 percent (14-of-16) showing at the line in taking a 43-36 lead at intermission.
After halftime, the Bison would push their lead out to 14 at 59-45 with 13:37 to play only to see the Jaspers battle back while using their trademark press, which resulted in 17 forced turnovers and nine steals.
Manhattan would trim the deficit to 65-59 with 6:24 to play following junior Tyler Wilson's (Bronx, NY / Cardinal Hayes) driving layup and appeared poised to make it a single-possession game. Unfortunately, the visitors would answer with 10-straight points in opening up a game-high 75-59 lead with 3:38 to play.
Richards also added six rebounds and a career-high five steals with three assists over 40 minutes to go along with his aforementioned 28 points. He now needs just nine markers to become the 37th member of the Manhattan 1,000-point club.
Freshman Thomas Capuano (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY / Iona Prep) was the only other double-figure scorer, finishing with a career-high 10 points while junior Rich Williams (Brooklyn, NY / Vermont Academy (VT)) added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds of the bench. Wilson facilitated the Jasper attack, finishing with a game-high six assists, against just turnover.
Zach Thomas paced four double-figure Bucknell scorers with 15 points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Manhattan, which saw the season debuts of senior RaShawn Stores (Bronx, NY / Robinson School (NJ)) and freshman Ak Ojo (Lagos, Nigeria / Cardinal Hayes (NY)), will next host George Mason on Wednesday, November 25 at 7:00 pm.
