Men's Basketball Flies Past Siena on Senior Day; Earn Five Seed at MAAC Championships

RIVERDALE, NY — Manhattan received big second-half performances from Will Sydnor and Shaquil Bender to breeze past Siena, 78-66, at Draddy Gymnasium on Saturday. Before the game, the program honored seniors  Aryan Arora, Daniel Hackett, Wesley Robinson and Bender.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Manhattan came out aggressive from three and made Siena pay. The Jaspers started off the day with a three from Robinson which took an early 3-2 lead.

• After both teams proceeded to trade blows over the next several minutes, a three from Fraser Roxburgh handed the Jaspers an 18-15 lead at the 9:37.

• After a three from Siena's Major Freeman tied the score, Manhattan answered in the form of a three-pointer from Jaden Winston that regained a lead for the Jaspers.

• What turned into a low-scoring first half battle saw Manhattan emerge with a 32-23 lead at halftime after closing the half on an 8-0 run. Robinson and Roxburgh each added another three during that stretch. 

• Starting with a three from Masiah Gilyard, Manhattan scored the first five points of the second half to open up a 37-23 lead. 

• The Jaspers led the rest of the way, extending the lead to as high as 19 on three occasions. 

• Sydnor had a stretch early in the second half in which he scored 10 straight Jaspers points, starting with a three-point play and later capped off with a three. 

• Bender had a stretch of 11 straight Jaspers points to help put the game out of reach. 

 STATS AND NOTES

• Manhattan will face off with rival Iona in the 4/5 game on Thursday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. on ESPN+. 

• This is the second straight year the Jaspers will play against Iona in Atlantic City after Iona defeated Manhattan in the 7/10 game by a score of 60-57.

• Manhattan will arrive in Atlantic City riding a four-game winning streak. 

• The last time the Jaspers went into Atlantic City on a multi-game winning streak was 2013-14 when it won its last two regular season games before winning three games in Springfield on their way to cutting down the nets. 

• Manhattan went 11-27 (40.7%) from three.

• Jaspers have shot 42% (53-126)  from three over the last 5 games. 

• For the seventh time this season, and third straight game, Manhattan had five players finish in double figures (Robinson 15, Bender 15, Sydnor 12, Gilyard 12 and Roxburgh 11). 

QUOTES FROM MANHATTAN 

Head coach John Gallagher after earning a first-round bye next week in AC: "This is a special program and a special place. We have to go down to Atlantic City and represent the way the Jaspers can. It's a new season."

NEXT TIME OUT

Manhattan and Iona will match up in Thursday's Quarterfinals and the winner will play either No. 1 Quinnipiac or the winner of No. 8 Rider/No. 9 Siena in Friday's first semifinal at 6 p.m. 

Follow Manhattan Basketball on X (@JaspersMBB) and on Instagram (@jaspers.mbb).