Box Score Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) | Highlights | Postgame Press Conference | PhotosRiverdale, NY - Fueled by four double-figure scorers, Manhattan shot 53.7 percent from the floor and a perfect 100.0 percent from the line in defeating Hofstra 80-68 at Draddy Gym.
Junior
Zavier Peart (Miami, FL / Eastern Florida State) scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the first half while classmate
Zane Waterman (Winston-Salem, NC / Fayetteville Academy) had 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds lead the way for the Jaspers. Freshman
Aaron Walker Jr. (Brooklyn, NY / Cardozo) matched Waterman with 15 points while also pulling down six rebounds in his first collegiate start.
Trailing 11-4 just over four minutes into the game, Manhattan answered with arguably its finest six-minute segment of the year. Freshman NaQuan Council (Blackwood, NJ / Scotland Performance) canned back-to-back triples before junior Zavier Peart (Miami, FL / Eastern Florida State) hit a jumper to give the Jaspers a 12-11 lead.
After Hofstra briefly answered with a free throw Peart again hit a jumper and junior Zavier Turner (Indianapolis, IN / Ball State) canned a triple to extend the Manhattan advantage out to 17-12 at the 12:41 mark. The Pride then briefly cut into the lead with a Jamall Robinson layup, before Walker Jr. and Peart answered with layups. Junior Samson Usilo (Brooklyn, NY / Nazareth) then canned a pair at the line to give the Jaspers to a 23-14 lead with 9:54 until intermission while capping a game-changing 19-3 run.
Hofstra would quickly trim the deficit to four only to have Peart answer with a jumper while setting the tone for the night. Twice more would the Pride threaten to make it a game in the first half only to be denied by a Peart jumper, the last of which kick-started a 9-0 run that was fueled by a ferocious Waterman dunk that pushed the advantage out to 36-24 at the 4:11 mark.
Over the final-four plus minutes Hofstra was able to cut into the lead and appeared to have a stop on defense down just six. However, sophomore Thomas Capuano (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY / Iona Prep) grabbed a key offense rebound and Walker Jr. hit a layup with the clock winding down to give Manhattan an insurmountable 42-34 halftime advantage.
In the decisive stanza, the Jaspers shot 56.3 percent (18-of-32) from the floor and scored on seven of the Pride's nine miscues en route to registering a 17-4 advantage on points off turnovers. Peart, meanwhile, was the story on offense in scoring a game-high 14 points on perfect 7-for-7 shooting.
In the second half, the Manhattan advantage wouldn't dip below six points at any time thanks to hitting all 15 second-half free throws en route to making good on 100 percent (17-for-17) from the line for the game.
Turner hit for double-figures for the third-straight game, finishing with 11 points while senior Tyler Wilson (Bronx, NY / Cardinal Hayes) had five assists from the point guard position to help fuel the offense while Capuano had five rebounds and three assists to round out the top performers in the backcourt.
The Jaspers return to action at Temple as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Sunday, November 20 with opening tip tabbed for 2:00 pm on ESPN3.
Notes:
* Head Coach Steve Masiello improves to 4-0, all-time, against Hofstra with the Jaspers now holding a 41-22 advantage in the all-time series.
* Manhattan has won the battle of the boards in three-straight games to start the season.
* The Jaspers had a season-high 17 assists with seven different players recording at least two.
* Wilson passed former teammate RaShawn Stores for ninth place on the all-time Manhattan assist list and now has 316.
* The Jaspers have rolled out different starting line-ups in each game with eighth different student-athletes earning starts.
* Manhattan had 10 players see between 12 and 27 minutes minutes of action on the night.
