Manhattan University Athletics

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Manhattan trailed for the majority of the proceedings on Friday night but found an extra gear late to pull out a 70-67 win over reigning MAAC champions Saint Peter's. The Jaspers received standout performances from Fraser Roxburgh and Will Sydnor in erasing the seven-point deficit with over 13 minutes to play, snapping Manhattan's five-game losing streak in Jersey City.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Saint Peter's jumped out to an 8-0 lead following a three-pointer from Bryce Eaton at the 17:57 mark of the first half. 

• Manhattan stopped its scoring drought when Will Sydnor came up with a steal and found Jaden Winston for an easy fast-break lay-up that cut the deficit to 8-2.

• Manhattan did a good job of hacking away at the Saint Peter's lead despite the Peacocks' shooting success.The Jaspers had answers for four more three-pointers from Saint Peter's. Down 20-15 following a three from Marcus Randolph, Will Sydnor delivered five straight points on a two-handed dunk and a three-pointer. Roxburgh added another lay-up, and Manhattan took a 22-20 lead thanks to the quick 7-0 run. 

• The Jaspers' resurgence included 14 consecutive points from Sydnor and Roxburgh. The duo got into a shootout with Saint Peter's sophomore guard Armoni Zeigler, who attacked the hoop with purpose in the first half and whose jumper at the 3:52 mark extended the Saint Peter's lead to 33-27. 

• Saint Peter's eighth three-pointer of the first half came from Adetokunbo Bakare at 1:31 before Masiah Gilyard closed the half with a lay-up to send the Jaspers' into the locker room with a manageable three-point deficit at 38-35. 

• In the second half, Manhattan showed an even greater pep in its step, which was highlighted by a coast to coast tomahawk dunk for Sydnor that elicited a roar from the crowd and cut the Jaspers deficit back to two at the 15:46 mark of the second half. 

• The Peacocks would grow their lead back up to seven with help from the charity stripe. But the Manhattan offense, led by Sydnor and Roxburgh, had just the right response. Once again, the pair of freshmen came up huge with eight straight points—three from the former and five from the latter—to put Manhattan ahead 51-50 with 10:54 left.

• Back to back baskets from Marcus Randolph and Jaquel Morris tilted the advantage back to the Peacocks by three with 7:51 left. 

• Then, Manhattan's defense locked in while the offense continued to ride the hot hand of Roxburgh. He was set up for another three on an assist from Winston before adding another lay-up that regained a lead for Manhattan at 59-57. The Jaspers wouldn't allow another Saint Peter's basket until a lay-up from Eaton with 14 seconds left — a span of 7:37 in game clock. 

• Eaton's drive cut the Jaspers lead to three, and he then did his part to cut the home team's deficit to one with a long three-pointer with six seconds left. However, Manhattan refused to miss from the line and used a pair of free throws from Gilyard and Shaquil Bender in the final five seconds to ice the game. The Jaspers hit a total of nine free throws in the closing minute to help clinch the win.

STATS AND NOTES

• With his 16 points, Will Sydnor now has five double-digit scoring games in eight tries. His special first half on Friday included 11 points on 5-7 shooting, all while the Jaspers had to fend off hot shooting from the Peacocks.

• Sydnor had a pair of highlight dunks, which included a putback dunk in the first half and then the one-handed throwdown in the opening minutes of the second half. 

• Roxburgh's 17 points are a career high for the Aussie. Both of his personal 5-0 runs in the second half established leads for Manhattan — first at 51-50 with 10:54 left and then at 59-57 with 7:13 left on the clock.

• The 7:37 of game clock without allowing a made field goal was the longest goal line stand of the season for the Jaspers defense. The Manhattan defense had two other stretches this season exceed five minutes without an opponent field goal (5:11 in the second half at FDU and 5:09 in the first half at Maryland). 

• Another successful night at the charity stripe for Manhattan (15-21) now has three players shooting 85 percent or better this season from the line. They are Shaquil Bender (11-12 for 91.7%), Jaden Winston (18-20 for 90%) and Devin Dinkins (21-24 for 87.5%). 

QUOTES FROM MANHATTAN

Head coach John Gallagher on tightening up the defense tonight at Saint Peter's: "All week long we went back to the tape and put x's on the court and lines for how we want to play… It was a much better defensive performance and I thought we were really gritty diving for loose balls…That's the Manhattan I'm familiar with in practice."

Gallagher on the rapid growth of his young team: "When we built this roster we set out to beat the top teams in the league…Championship teams like Saint Peter's…I have great respect for coach (Bashir Mason)...So for us to get this win shows a lot about where we're headed but also shows that in December we're tough enough to win games like this. Just as I told the team, 'you can't let the wins get to your head and the losses get to your heart.'"

NEXT TIME OUT

Manhattan will stay in MAAC play when it hosts the Marist Red Foxes (5-2, 1-0 MAAC) on Sunday at 2 PM. The action will be streamed live on ESPN+ from Draddy Gym. 

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