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Riverdale, NY - Manhattan (1-7) returns home to host defending NEC Regular Season Champion St. Francis Brooklyn (3-6) on Monday, December 14 at 7:00 pm.
TOP STORYLINES
#1 - The Jaspers will be aiming for their first win over a NEC school since besting LIU Brooklyn 71-61 on December 19, 2009.
#2 - Manhattan leads the all-time series by a 51-19 count and will be squaring off with the Terriers for the first time since the 2008-2009 season.
#3 - In the teams' last match-up, a 70-68 St. Francis Brooklyn victory, Terrier assistant coach Jamaal Womack scored a team-best 15 points.
QUICK HITS
* Head Coach Steve Masiello will be aiming for his first-ever victory over a school from the NEC.
* Masiello is 23-28, all-time, against non-MAAC opposition, including going 7-6 at Draddy.
* Manhattan's non-conference slate features four games against teams that qualified for the postseason a year ago, including three that participated in the NIT (Saint Mary's, Bucknell, St. Francis Brooklyn). Additionally, six of the non-conference opponents have qualified for the NCAA Tourney this decade.
* The Jaspers notched at least 70 points against Marist (70) and Columbia (71) for the first time this year while draining a season-best nine three pointers each time. Manhattan also won the rebounding battle for the first two times this year in those performances.
* Monday's game will feature 15 New York natives.
* At Memphis, senior Shane Richards scored a team-high 17 points, fueled by a season-high matching four three pointers, while pacing the squad on the glass with eight rebounds.
* A 2015-2016 All-MAAC Preseason Second Team selection, Richards was the hero in the first Jasper victory of the year, a 69-67 come-from-behind triumph over George Mason, thanks to banking in a jumper with 1.2 seconds to play. He also became the 37th member of the school's 1,000-point club earlier in the night.
* At Siena, Richards scored 22 of his game-high 26 points after halftime in notching his third 20-point performance of the year and the 10th of his career.
* The New York native ranks among the MAAC leaders in scoring (17.5 ppg-6th), free throw percentage (.788-12th), threes (2.2/game-11th) and steals (1.0 spg-15th) while pacing the squad in scoring on four occasions.
* From long range, Richards has converted at least three triples in 52 of his 106 games, including at least four 28 times, and is the school's single-season (92-2015) and career (251) leader in threes. When the New York City native connects on four in a game, the Manhattan is 18-10, including 14-7 over the last three seasons.
* Junior Rich Williams also hit for double-figures at Memphis, finishing up with 15 points after registering his first career double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) against Columbia.
* Over his last six games, Williams is averaging 18.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game with three 20-point performances while shooting 48.2 percent (40-for-83) from the floor..
* Williams has increased both his scoring (+11.5 ppg) and rebounding (+3.5) numbers this season from his sophomore campaign.
* On the year, Williams, who has paced the squad in scoring three times and in rebounding on five occasions, is among the MAAC leaders in scoring (17.0 ppg-8th), rebounding (6.0 rpg-9th), defensive rebounds (4.3 drpg-7th) and blocks (0.8 bpg-15th).
* Since returning to the starting line-up three games ago, senior RaShawn Stores is averaging 11.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from deep.
* Against Marist, Stores scored a career-high 18 points, fueled by a career-high matching five three pointers, and is averaging 7.4 points and 2.6 assists per game on the year while making good on 42.9 percent (9-of-21) from long range.
* For his career, Stores, a 2015-2016 All-MAAC Preseason Third Team selection, is shooting 42.1 percent (56-for-133) on threes after halftime, including making good on 46.9 percent (31-of-66) in the second half since the start of last year. Stores also has a 4.4 assist/turnover ratio (44 assists/10 TO) over the last two years.
* The Jaspers are 36-19 over the last three years when Stores, who was granted an extra year of eligibility on July 22, 2015 by the NCAA, starts including going 17-8 last year.
* Both Richards & Stores are the only MAAC student-athletes to have played in each of the last three conference title games and have been a part of 59 total wins, including going 8-1 during MAAC Tournament play.
* Against Columbia, sophomore Zane Waterman notched the seventh-straight Manhattan 20-point performance to start the season, finishing with a career-high 22 points.
* In Waterman's previous game against Marist, he narrowly missed his first career double-double with nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds. On the year, Waterman ranks among the league leaders in scoring (9.9 ppg-30th), rebounding (5.8 rpg-12th), offensive rebounding (2.8-3rd) and steals (1.1-11th).
* In the first half over the last three games, the Jaspers are shooting 52.1 percent from the floor, highlighted by making good on a blistering 70.0 percent (14-of-20) in the opening half against Marist.
* Junior Tyler Wilson facilitated the offensive effort against the Red Foxes, handing out a career-high 10 assists while committing just one turnover.
* Wilson's 10 assists are the most by a Manhattan student-athlete since Von Damien Green notched 10 against Saint Peter's on January 30, 2002.
* Wilson, who scored a season-high 13 at Fordham, has handed out at least six assists on five occasions while pacing the squad in helpers each time out.
* The New York native ranks second in the MAAC and 32nd nationally with 5.9 assists per game. Wilson also ranks fifth in the league with a 1.6 assist/turnover ratio and sixth with 1.6 steals each time out.
* Wilson's play on defense have also helped the Jaspers rank 34th nationally with a MAAC-best 16.4 forced turnovers per game to along with 7.7 steals per game (77th NCAA).
* The Jaspers forced a season-high 25 turnovers in the win over George Mason - fueled by six drawn charges - leading to a 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The 25 were the most forced since Manhattan turned Niagara over 25 times in a 78-77 victory on February 9, 2014.
* During Masiello's five years on the sidelines, the Jaspers are 19-9 when forcing the opposition into at least 20 turnovers.
* Manhattan recorded a season-high 11 steals against in the win over George Mason, improving 19-2 over the last three seasons when notching double-figures in thefts and is 30-5 when hitting the 10-steal standard over the last five years.
* Freshman Thomas Capuano has had a solid start to his career, averaging 5.9 points, 1.8 steals (5th MAAC) and 2.4 assists each time out. He is also shooting 40.4 percent from the field and notched a career-high 14 points in the win over George Mason.
* The Jaspers played with just five scholarship players against George Mason, while rallying from a 16-point deficit, which was the largest overcome since battling back from an 18-point margin at Iona on January 12, 2012. The Jaspers also made just eight substitutions in the aforementioned victory against the Patriots and played the final 10:48 with the same line-up.
* Manhattan is 36-4 when leading at the half over the last three seasons, including going a perfect 15-0 a year ago. Additionally, since the start of last season the Jaspers are 16-2 when leading with five minutes to play and 13-11 in games decided by 10 points or less.
* Also over the last three years, Manhattan is 30-6 when holding teams to less than 70 points, 20-6 when limiting teams to less than 40 percent shooting, 22-8 when winning the battle of the boards and 30-13 when forcing more turnovers than the opposition.
* Masiello, who holds a career record of 80-60 (49-29 MAAC), set the school-record for MAAC Tournament wins a year ago with his eighth against Iona while breaking current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla's previous mark.
* Since returning to Riverdale, Masiello has led the Jaspers to a pair of MAAC Championships 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 four of the five Manhattan's MAAC Championship teams and five of the Jaspers' 12 20-win seasons in accruing a 163-96 record.
* In his 20th season as either a player or a coach, Masiello has a career collegiate record of 441-206, including 320-178 on the sidelines, with one National Title, two National Championship appearances, two Final Four appearances, six Elite Eight berths, eight conference championships, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and 15 20-win seasons.
SCOUTING ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN
St. Francis Brooklyn, like Manhattan, had a lot of success last year and is 3-6 on the young season.
KEY MANHATTAN MATCH-UPS
Three-Point Line - The Jaspers have limited the opposition to just 20.8 percent (5-for-24) shooting from long range over the last two games and will be facing a Terrier squad that is averaging 8.7 triples per game and most recently went 16-for-49 (.327) in an overtime loss to NJIT.
Turnovers - Manhattan's trademark pressure will face a tough test against a St. Francis Brooklyn squad that is averaging just 12.8 miscues per game.
FOR STARTERS
The Jaspers have used the starting line-up of Stores, Capuano, Richards, Waterman and freshman Ak Ojo in each of the last three games, after using six different line-ups to start the year.
INJURIES APLENTY
Manhattan has had seven players (six scholarship) miss a total of 29 games due to injury this year.
CLIMBING THE LADDER
Richards, who became the 37th member of the Jaspers' 1,000-point club in the win over George Mason, is 31st in school history with 1,080 points.
20/20 VISION
Richards notched a career-high 28 points and five steals to go along with six rebounds against Bucknell after scoring a game-high 23 at Saint Mary's
WILLIAMS BRINGS HIS A GAME
Williams scored a career-high 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks over 40 minutes in the win vs. George Mason before notching 24 the next game against Fordham. He then recorded his third 20-point performance with 22 against Marist.
HIGH-POWERED DUO
Richards and Williams have combined for six 20-point performances and are fifth in the MAAC with a combined 34.5 ppg.
THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
Manhattan is slated to appear on the ESPN family of networks 11 times during the 2015-2016 season, including 10 during MAAC play. The Jaspers will next play on ESPN3 against Siena on Monday, January 4.
FOLLOW ON THE JSN
Fans can watch Monday's game on the Jasper Sports Network. Christian Heimall will again provide the play-by-play with former standouts Brian Mahoney and Chris Williams providing the color.
UP NEXT
Manhattan is at Morgan State on Sunday, December 20 at 1:00 pm.
