New York, NY (December 29, 2003)- Manhattan was able to come back from a 17 point second half deficit to tie the game twice in the final minutes, but was unable to complete the comeback in falling to Penn in the championship game of the Dreyfus Holiday Festival, 49-47. Senior co-captains
Luis Flores and
Dave Holmes were named to the All-Tournament team.
Trailing by 17, 38-21, with 13:51 left in the second half, the Jaspers (5-3) mounted a furious comeback, going on a 13-0 run, capped by three consecutive Flores three-pointers to pull with four, 38-34, with 9:42 to play. Penn pushed the lead back to eight, 44-36, with 7:45 to play before Manhattan used a 9-1 run to tie the game at 45-45 on a Flores layup with 3:47 to play, the first tie since the score was 13-13 with 10:41 left in the first half. After two Tim Begley free throws, two of the 27 Penn was awarded in comparison to Manhattan's six, gave the Quakers back the lead, Holmes knotted the score at 47-47 with a layup with 1:19 to play. On the ensuing possession, the Jaspers stifled the Penn offense until Begley was able to hit a shot clock beating jumper in the lane with 42.7 seconds remaining. Manhattan had several chances to tie or win the game, but were unable to convert.
Manhattan came storming out of the gate to open the game, racing out to a 13-3 lead over the first 6:01 of the game, before the Jaspers shooting went ice cold. Manhattan was able to score only two more points the rest of the half, as the Quakers outscored the Jaspers 25-2 over the last 13:59 of the first half to take a 28-15 lead into the break.
For the game, Manhattan shot 29.9% (20-67) and went 3-6 from the line. Penn shot 35.7% (15-42) but made 16 of their 27 foul shots, by virtue of holding a 24-15 edge in fouls called.
Flores led all scorers with a game-high 20 points, while Holmes added eight points and eight rebounds. Begley led Penn with 13 points, while Mark Zoller chipped in with 12 points.
The Jaspers get back in action on Wednesday, December 31, when the host the Hofstra Pride at 5:00 p.m. at Draddy Gym in a game to be televised by Fox Sports-NY.
