Riverdale, NY (February 15, 2004)- Manhattan clinched at least a share of the MAAC regular season title, and claimed the number one seed in the MAAC Tournament with a 79-62 win over Siena today at Draddy Gym. The Jaspers improved to 19-4, 14-1 in MAAC play. Manhattan has won six straight and 14 of its last 15 games.
For the second straight game, the Jaspers took a double-digit lead into halftime. After opening the game by scoring the first six points, the Jaspers saw Siena (9-15, 6-9) knot the game at six with a 6-0 run of their own. Manhattan answered with a 14-2 run over the next 6:20 to take a 20-8 lead. After the Saints cut the lead to six, 22-16, with 8:26 remaining, the Jaspers used a 11-0 run to break the game open, taking a 17 point lead, 33-16, with 4:45 left in the opening stanza. Manhattan took its largest lead of the first half, 19 points, after a
Peter Mulligan three made the score 42-23 with 26 seconds left before the break.
Luis Flores hit a three to open the second half and to give the Jaspers a 20 point lead, 45-25, with 19:47 left in the game. Manhattan led by as many as 21 on several occasions, but never allowed the lead to dip below 14 points en route to the victory.
Flores led three Jaspers in double-figures with a game-high 25. He also moved into second place on the MAAC all-time conference game scoring list, passing Army's Kevin Houston, who graduated in 1987 with 1176 MAAC points. Flores now has scored 1190 points in just 51 MAAC games. Mulligan chipped in with 20 points, while
Dave Holmes added 17 points and nine rebounds. As a team, Manhattan converted 30-32 free throws, including 11-12 from Flores.
Michael Haddix led Siena with 20 points. Tommy Mitchell added 13 points, while Antoine Jordan chipped in with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.
Manhattan returns to action when the Jaspers travel to Poughkeepsie, NY to take on MAAC foe Marist on Wednesday, February 18. The game is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.
