Riverdale, N.Y. - In its final tune-up before opening the regular season on Saturday, Manhattan defeated New York Tech, 62-58, tonight at Draddy Gym in an exhibition contest. The Jaspers led wire-to-wire in posting the win.
Manhattan scored the first four points of the game, and slowly built its lead up to as many as 12, the Jaspers' largest lead of the game, following a Franck Traore layup made the score 23-11 with 6:30 remaining in the opening stanza. At that point, Manhattan went cold from the field, and New York Tech took advantage, cutting the lead to two, 25-23, with 1:37 left before the break. The Bears could not score the equalizer, and a Laurence Jolicouer free throw with no time on the clock sent the Jaspers into the locker room with a 28-25 lead.
New York Tech's Kirk Stewart opened the second half with a conventional three point play to knot the score at 28-28, but Manhattan responded with a 6-0 spurt to push the lead back to six, 34-38, with 18:03 left in the game. The two teams played evenly over the remainder of the game, and even though the Bears were able to draw even twice more, the final time making the score 50-50 with 7:20 left, the Jaspers were able to keep New York Tech at bay. Once the Bears knotted the score at 50, Manhattan pushed the lead back to seven with a 7-0 run, and did not allow New York Tech to gain possession with an opportunity to tie the score for the rest of the game.
The Jaspers won the battle of the boards, 43-28, while shooting 47.1% from the field.
Preseason All-MAAC selections Devon Austin (team-high 18 points) and Arturo Dubois (14 points, seven rebounds, three blocks) paced the Manhattan offense. Darryl Crawford chipped in with nine points, while senior Guy Ngarndi pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with his five points.
Daniel Cox led all scorers with a game-high 19 points for the Bears.
Manhattan opens the regular season on Saturday, November 11, hosting NJIT at Draddy Gym. The game is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.