Poughkeepsie, NY (February 18, 2004)- Manhattan clinched its second straight MAAC Regular Season title with a 76-52 win over Marist College tonight at the McCann Center on the Marist campus. The Jaspers improve to 20-4, 15-1 in MAAC play. The 15 MAAC wins is a school record. The Jaspers also reached the 20 win mark for the third straight year and reached 20 wins in just 24 games, the second fastest in school history (1994-95 - 22 games).
The Jaspers used a 10-0 run to turn a 9-8 lead with 16:15 left into a 19-8 lead with 12:35 left in the first half. Manhattan extended the lead to 24-12 with 8:30 remaining before Marist (6-18, 4-11 MAAC) cut the deficit to seven with a 5-0 run to make the score 24-17 with 5:34 left before the break. A
Luis Flores three sparked a 10-2 Jasper run to push the lead back to double digits, 34-19, with 2:03 left before halftime. After four Eric Sosler free throws brought the Red Foxes to within 11, 34-23,
Mike Konovelchick nailed a long three at the first half buzzer to give Manhattan a 37-23 halftime lead.
The Jaspers opened the second half with a 7-0 to take a 21 points lead, 44-23, with 17:37 left in the game. The Red Foxes responded with a 7-0 run of their own to make the score 44-30, with 15:19 left. Marist pulled to within 13, 55-41, after a Eric Seigrist three point play with 11:07 left in the game. However, the Red Foxes could get no closer as Manhattan pulled away for the win.
Flores led all scorers with 30 points.
Dave Holmes added 12 for Manhattan.
Manhattan returns to action on Saturday, February 21, when the Jaspers travel to Milwaukee, WI to take on the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers in an ESPN Bracket Buster game. The game is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
