Riverdale, N.Y. (November 21, 2007)- It was a tale of two halves tonight in the home opener for Manhattan College. The Jaspers used a stifling defensive effort to take a 27-17 lead into the break, but Eastern Michigan outscored Manhattan by 14 in the second half to emerge with a 61-57 decision tonight at Draddy Gym.
“Obviously this was a game that in the first half we did things we were effective at,” noted second year head coach Barry Rohrssen. “In the second half, our defense was nowhere near as effective as it in the first 20 minutes, and that was the difference in the game.”
With the score tied at 8-8 with 12:01 left in the first half, Manhattan displayed the type of defense that propelled the Jaspers to victory in their first two games, holding the Eagles to just one made field goal over a 10:28 span to open up a 10 point, 20-10, before a Travis Lewis three pointer ended the drought with 3:43 left before the break. A Patrick Bouli three pointer pushed the lead to 12 points, 27-15, with 1:21 left in the opening stanza, and the Jaspers took a 27-17 lead into the locker room. During the span of defensive dominance, Manhattan forced nine turnovers and held Eastern Michigan to 1-12 shooting from the floor.
A Darryl Crawford three pointer to open the second half provided the largest lead by either team, 13 points, as the Jaspers led, 30-17, with 19:38 left in the game. The lead stood at 11 points, 32-21, with 16:48 before the Eagles scored nine straight points to pull within two, 32-30. Devon Austin buried a three pointer to push the lead back to five, but an Eastern Michigan lay-up and three pointer knotted the score at 35 with 12:26 to play. The next eight minutes saw four ties and seven lead changes, until a 5-0 Eagle spurt gave Eastern Michigan a four point, 54-50, lead with 3:55 to play. The Eagles were able to stretch the lead to six with 21 seconds left, and despite a valiant effort in the closing seconds, Manhattan did not find the equalizer.
Antoine Pearson paced the Manhattan offense with 15 points, and was joined in double-figures by Austin (13 points) and Crawford (10 points).
Justin Dobbins tallied career- and game-highs with 22 points and 14 rebounds for Eastern Michigan, and Carlos Medlock nearly joined his double-double, scoring 10 points and handing out nine assists.
Manhattan returns to action on Saturday, November 24, hosting St. Francis-N.Y. College at Draddy Gym. The game is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m.