Manhattan University Athletics

RIVERDALE, N.Y. — Manhattan's late comeback versus Le Moyne fell short in an 81-77 loss on Friday night at Draddy Gym. After trailing by as much as 16 in the second half, Manhattan made things interesting late by cutting the deficit to two with under two minutes left before running out of time. 

• The Jaspers fell behind 7-4 following a three-pointer from Robby Carmody at the 15:09 mark of the first half. 

• Seconds later, Will Sydnor scored his opening points on a three-pointer that tied the score. He stayed active with another basket off an assist from Jaden Winston that knotted the score at 11 with 13:13 left in the half. 

• Le Moyne created separation and led 18-11 following a 7-0 sparked by an aggressive drive by Zek Tekin. 

• Wesley Robinson drained two free throws at 8:39 to end an over-four minute scoring drought for the Jaspers. Devin Dinkins followed that up with a four-point play that brought the Jaspers back to within three after the made free throw. 

• Manhattan cut it to four following a sweet drive and finish by Bender before Ocypher Owens answered with four straight to push the Le Moyne lead back to three possessions with 2:42 left in the first half. 

• The Dolphins stayed aggressive and ended the half with six straight points to take a 38-26 lead at the intermission.

• Manhattan came out of the locker room aggressive and cut the deficit back down to eight following a steal and a dunk for Bender on the fast break.

• Le Moyne still wouldn't blink, firing back with two straight baskets from Dwyane Koroma that pushed the Le Moyne lead to a dozen. 

• The deficit grew to 16—the largest of the game—after two more defensive breakdowns for the Jaspers led to back to back finishes inside for Koroma. 

• Still struggling to get stops, a contested three-pointer for Bender cut it back to 11 with still over 11 minutes remaining. Over a minute later, a lay-up plus the foul sent Masiah Gilyard to the line. However, his free throw missed and Manhattan still trailed by 11 with 10:32 left.

• Manhattan continued to work hard, cutting it to eight twice with under 10 minutes while it slowly chipped away. Then, Dinkins' second three of the night cut the deficit to 70-64 with 5:05 left.

• Down eight again with 2:47 left, Manhattan made one last push using back to back threes from Sydnor and Robinson to cut the deficit to two. However, coming out of a Dolphins timeout, AJ Dancler connected on a three for the dagger shot which pushed Le Moyne's advantage back to five with 1:12 left. 

• With 12 seconds left, a three from Dinkins shaved the deficit back to two before Carmody iced the game with two free throws. 

• Sydnor posted a game-high 20 points on an efficient stat line, shooting 6-11 from the field and 2-4 from downtown. 

• Sydnor has led Manhattan in scoring in 3 of its 7 games this season and is now averaging a team-high 14.6 points per game.

• Manhattan gave up the same amount of points in the first half against Le Moyne as it did at Virginia (38).

• Manhattan attempted a season-high 31 three-point attempts, only connecting on eight of them (25.8%). 

• After converting on 23 of 28 free throw attempts (82.1%), Manhattan is now shooting 76.9% from the charity stripe this season. 

• Dinkins has rattled home 14 of his 28 three-point attempts (50%) this season which is the top percentage among Manhattan marksmen. 

NEXT TIME OUT

Manhattan will launch into MAAC play when it travels to Jersey City next Friday to face Saint Peter's (3-3, 0-0 MAAC). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM from Run Baby Run Arena and will be streamed live on ESPN+.