RaShawn Stores returns with renewed focus as Manhattan defends MAAC championship

As Manhattan reloads yet again, RaShawn Stores remains a consistent hand at point guard heading into his final season. (Photo courtesy of Vincent Simone via Big Apple Buckets)

RaShawn Stores remembers the exact moment as if it happened yesterday.

"When Coach (Steve Masiello) called me, I was actually laying down waiting for the news," he admitted to his reaction to receiving a waiver for a fifth year in July, "but it was exciting. I get to come back and defend the two championship titles, try to make history and go for three."

Stores' return could very well be the best thing to happen to Manhattan this offseason, one that saw two more program pillars in Emmy Andujar and Ashton Pankey graduate as the fourth and fifth 1,000-point scorers in Jasper green and white over the past two years. But for all the speculation as to how the pair would be irreplaceable due to their offensive productivity, the player feeding them the ball is, by all accounts, just as responsible for the latest measure of success in Riverdale, maybe even more.

The season statistics may not indicate such, but when one reads between the lines, Stores' clutch mentality and value shines brighter than ever. The Bronx native led the Jaspers with a 40 percent mark from three-point range, and connected at a 58 percent rate from beyond the arc after the second half in MAAC play, and 8-for-12 from deep in the last five minutes of games. As impressive as that is, it is only the tip of the iceberg.

As Stores was leading on the battlefield, he did so in the locker room as well, urging his teammates to fight for one another and with one another as the season wore on, providing the impetus for the "22 Strong" mantra that carried Manhattan to a second straight conference title and return trip to the NCAA Tournament. The final step on that road is also attributable to the point guard, as he was the one who suggested the Jaspers isolate Ashton Pankey under the rim against Iona's David Laury in the MAAC championship game while Manhattan's patented pressure zone defense extended to envelope the entire perimeter, a tactic not lost on Masiello even after the ground work has begun on a new campaign.

"The only thing I can say to that is I would have hired him on staff if he wasn't playing," Masiello revealed. "That tells you about him. He has a basketball IQ and a mind. He's just in a great, great place, he sees the game as a coach does. He's three, four steps ahead, so he's a guy who is a phenomenal basketball mind, as you want all your seniors to, but he's like one of those 29-year-old seniors. He's that much better."

One mark of a leader is wisdom beyond his years, another is humility. Stores has a combination of both, the experience of going through the wars of the MAAC coupled with a staunch unwillingness to let his coach's praise go to his head. He recognizes his role on this year's team, one that has been significantly enhanced by his newfound status as one of the two elder statesmen on the roster.

"It's my job to lead like I've been doing the last two years," he confidently affirmed, "and even more so now, because it's a big year and we're trying to get a three-peat. I just want to win. That's all I want to do, is win another ring and put my place in the history books."