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ALBANY, N.Y. - Defending MAAC Champion Manhattan (18-13) will square off with Iona (26-7) on Monday, March 9 at 9 p.m. with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line. The game will be streamed live through Watch ESPN.
TOP STORYLINES
#1 - The teams will be meeting in the MAAC Championship game for the third-straight year.
#2 - Since the start of last season, the Jaspers are 8-3 in neutral site games and 17-5 in the February/March.
#3 - Manhattan holds a 3-2 advantage over the Gaels in MAAC Tournament action.
MAAC TOURNAMENT QUICK HITS
* Manhattan holds an all-time MAAC Tournament record of 25-29 in 33 appearances, including going 4-4 in Championship Games.
* The Jaspers will be looking for their fifth title and first of the back-to-back variety since claiming top honors in 2003 and 2004.
* Manhattan 16-4 when entering the field as either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed with four titles, but are just 9-25 when not seeded among the top-two.
* The Jaspers are 2-3 when playing as the No. 3 seed
* Manhattan is 24-8 over the last three years in the months of February and March.
* The Jaspers are 17-13 in MAAC Tournament action when playing at the Times Union Center and have won two titles at the venue.
* Head Coach Steve Masiello is tied with Fran Fraschilla for the most MAAC Tournament wins (7) in school history.
* Iona leads the all-time series by a 48-39 count, including going 45-30 as MAAC members.
* Masiello also was 5-2 as an assistant coach from 2001-2005 and all told has helped the program to three MAAC titles.
* Masiello (2014, 2004, 2003), assistant strength & conditioning coach Heshimu Evans (1995) and announcer Chris Williams (1993) have been a member of all five Jasper teams that have advanced to the NCAA Tournament since the program joined the MAAC for the 1981-1982 season.
* Manhattan, which has won six-of-seven, was led by junior Shane Richards' game-high 14 points in the Jaspers' 65-48 win over Saint Peter's as Manhattan improved to 9-2, all-time, in MAAC Tournament semifinal action.
* Manhattan took control of the game with a 15-2 run that bridged the end of the first and the beginning of the second half.
* The Jaspers improved to 5-0 this season when limiting the opposition to less than 60 points.
* Thanks to notching 11 steals, Manhattan improved to 7-2 this year and 18-2 over the last two seasons when forcing at least 10 steals in a game and are 29-5 (20-2 MAAC) during Masiello's tenure when hitting the standard.
* The Jaspers rank 21st nationally with a MAAC-best 8.1 steal per game.
* Manhattan also forced 19 turnovers and lead the MAAC and rank third nationally with 16.8 forced turnovers per game.
* Additionally, the Riverdale-based institution has pressured the opposition into at least 20 turnovers on nine occasions.
* The Jaspers also pace the MAAC and are 49th nationally with +2.2 turnover margin.
* An offshoot of Manhattan's frantic pace is that they rank among the top-20 nationally with 543 free throws (14th NCAA) and 780 free throw attempts (11th NCAA).
* With the most recent win, the Jaspers moved perfect 14-0 when leading at the half and 15-2 when leading with five minutes to play.
* Manhattan is averaging 72.7 ppg over its last seven games, led by senior Emmy Andujar (17.0 ppg) and junior Ashton Pankey (15.0 ppg).
* During that time, the Jaspers are averaging 38.7 ppg while shooting 47.7 percent, including a blistering 67.6 percent (23-of-34) over the last five minutes of the stretch.
* Senior RaShawn Stores, who is averaging 8.1 ppg, 3.0 apg and 2.1 spg while posting a 5.3 assist/turnover ratio over the last seven and has picked it up in the second half during that time to the tune of a blistering 62.5 percent (10-of-16) conversion rate from distance with 13 assists and no turnovers.
* Stores, who is fourth in the MAAC with a 41.6 conversion rate from distance, scored who scored all of his career-high matching 15 points after intermission at Siena. He is now connecting a blistering 61.1 (22-of-36) percent from long range in the second half against MAAC opposition, including 66.7 percent (8-of-12) over the final five minutes.
* Pankey is averaging 4.3 ppg in the final five minutes over the last seven games - highlighted by 15 points at Iona - on 8-of-9 shooting from the floor and 14-of-14 from the line.
* Andujar earned MAAC All-Tournament team honors a year ago and is one of just 13 student-athletes in program history to garner All-Tournament recognition.
* In his career at the MAAC Tournament, the Rice graduate is averaging 12.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 2.9 apg while shooting 53.4 percent (39-of-73) from the floor and 85.7 percent (36-of-42) from the line.
* Last Monday, Andujar was tabbed as a near-unanimous selection to the All-MAAC First Team as well being named as the league's final Player of the Week selection for the 2014-2015 season.
* On the year, Andujar leads the team and ranks among the league leaders in scoring (16.5 ppg-5th), rebounding (7.5 rpg-4th), assists (3.5 apg-5th), steals (2.1 spg-2nd) (19th NCAA) and field goal percentage (.516-4th) (57th NCAA).
* Andujar is the only player in the league to rank among the top-five in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals with a team-best 11 20-point performances and seven double-doubles.
* Andujar, who is the first player in school history to notch 1,300 points, 700 rebounds, 350 assists and 160 steals, ranks among the Manhattan career leaders in the four aforementioned categories: scoring (1,316-13th), rebounding (750-9th), assists (362-6th) and steals (165-3rd).
* Joining Andujar with All-MAAC recognition was junior Ashton Pankey, who earned Third Team honors after ranking among the league leaders in scoring (13.3 ppg-13th), rebounding (6.5 rpg-8th), field goal percentage (.538-3rd) and blocks (1.4 bpg-5th).
* The Maryland transfer along with Andujar each notched double-figures in scoring a team-best 23 times while registering at least 20 points on three occasions - highlighted by a career-high 23 in the first meeting with Fairfield - with two double-doubles.
* This season against Iona, Pankey averaged a team-best 18.0 ppg, highlighted 20 points in the second meeting, while shooting 70.6 percent (12-for-17) from the floor and 92.3 percent (12-for-13) from the line.
* Andujar also averaged 17.0 ppg and 9.5 rpg and is averaging 14.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg and 3.2 apg over nine career games against the Gaels.
* In the first meeting, Manhattan pressured the MAAC Regular Season Champions into 21 miscues, which were the most committed by Iona since the Gaels were forced into 23 turnovers at Hofstra on Dec. 29, 2011.
* In the Quinnipiac victory, Richards set the single-season school record for three pointers, breaking his own record that he shared with Jeff Xavier. He now has 86 after hitting four against SPU.
* Richards, who is also the school's all-time three point leader with 225 career makes, has converted at least three triples in 48 of his 96 games, and at least four in 25 games. When the New York City native hits at least four, the Jaspers are 18-7, including 14-4 over the last two seasons.
* Richards ranks among the MAAC leaders in scoring (13.1 ppg-14th), three pointers/game (2.8-2nd) (37th NCAA), three-point field goal percentage (.387-8th) (47th NCAA) and free throw percentage (.818-3rd) while notching five 20-point performances - including a career-high 24 against Binghamton.
* Andujar (11), Richards (7) and Pankey (3) have also combined for the 21 Manhattan 20-point outings and 67 of the Jaspers' 83 double-figure scoring performances while leading the squad in scoring in all but two games this season. The trio has also accounted for 60.8 percent (1312/2157), including 62.4 percent (896/1437) during MAAC play.
* Three of the last six Manhattan wins have come by 10 points or less as the Jaspers are 11-8 in games decided by 10 points or less, including 10-4 during MAAC play.
* Sophomore Tyler Wilson had six assists, against no turnovers, with four steals in the win vs. Fairfield on the heels of handing out seven assists, against one turnover, against Iona. He has dished out at least four assists 12 times this year and is among the MAAC leaders in assists (2.9 apg-8th) and steals (1.4 spg-8th).
* Masiello is 78-52 as the head coach of the Jaspers, including posting a 49-27 MAAC record. His 78 victories are also the sixth-most in school history.
* Since returning to Riverdale, Masiello has led Manhattan to the program's fourth MAAC Championship as well as a pair of 20-plus win campaigns. In his first tenure, he was a part of two MAAC Championships and three 20-plus win seasons. All told, Masiello has been a member of three of the Jaspers' four MAAC Championship teams and five of their 12 20-win seasons while accruing a 161-88 record.
* In his 19th season as either a player or a coach, Masiello has a career collegiate record of 439-199, including 318-171 on the sidelines, with one National Title, two National Championship appearances, two Final Four appearances, six Elite Eight berths, seven conference championships, 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and 15 20-win seasons.
