By Pete Janny (@pete_janny)
NEW YORK — Manhattan had a real chance to turn a corner in its season Friday night, when the Marist Red Foxes came to Draddy Gymnasium. After all, a big road win at Fairfield last Sunday gave the Jaspers reason to believe that they could get a bye and even do some damage next month in Atlantic City.
The latter scenario is still on the table, but after an 81-58 setback on Friday night, the chase for a bye just got that much harder for Manhattan.
Anytime you play this iteration of the Red Foxes, there is a tangible risk that Patrick Gardner is going to make life hell for you. Just shy of the conference’s scoring lead held by Niagara’s Noah Thomasson, Gardner wasn’t his usual productive self in the first half, only scoring five points over the opening 20 minutes. But once things clicked, it was a breeze for Gardner and Marist.
Gardner poured in 20 points in the second half with two threes that came back-to-back and as part of a game-changing 16-3 run for the Red Foxes. By the time Noah Harris canned his fifth three of the night, Marist was on top, 74-50, and cruising to the finish line. Gardner and Stephane Ingo combined for 42 points, with Ingo’s 17 marking a career high for the Maine transfer.
“Not because we won, but the two guys sitting next to me have been unbelievable to coach,” Marist head coach John Dunne said of Gardner and Ingo. “We’ve got a couple more games with these guys in the regular season and hopefully a long stay in the MAAC tournament. I’m enjoying every minute and I’m so proud of them.”
For good measure, Gardner showed off his full arsenal, working from mid-range and also running the court and scoring on the fast break.
“He’s really good,” RaShawn Stores said. “He can score at all levels.”
Josh Roberts had some highlight reel dunks in the first half, mostly set up by Anthony Nelson. However, when the Marist bigs got more physical in the second half and closed out Roberts’ preferred real estate in the paint, the tide began to shift in favor of the Red Foxes. Roberts was still 7-of-10 from the field for a team-high 14 points, thus preserving his incredible 70 percent shooting from the field this season.
Nelson was not remotely close to the player many believe should warrant All-MAAC votes. He missed all 11 of his shots, which stymied the offense in the process. Still, none of that held Dunne back from heaping high praise on the fifth-year guard.
“I think he’s a first team guy, that’s my opinion,” Dunne said of Nelson. “I just think we did a nice job of swarming them on the drives.”
Manhattan didn’t nearly have enough scoring weapons to go toe to toe with a beleaguered Marist team. While Marist was on its way to finishing with a season-high 81 points, the rest of the offense went with Nelson, and as a team, the Jaspers were 4-of-19 from 3-point range. That was never going to play against the blistering 68 percent Marist shot in the second half and its 12 threes on the night. Manhattan’s 3-point defense has been a step slow all season, allowing four Marist shooters to each hit multiple threes and a big reason why the Red Foxes were able to post their most points ever at Draddy Gymnasium.
“To win, you’re going to have to make threes,” Dunne said, while not getting overly focused in exploiting Manhattan’s 3-point defense that allows opponents to shoot 36 percent from deep. “We didn’t talk about it a lot, so it wasn’t a major emphasis, but you need to do that to win.”
Whereas Marist was already mathematically eliminated from a bye before tipoff, the Jaspers were a half-game back of Niagara for the fifth and final bye. At the close of Friday night, Manhattan was in danger of missing out while Niagara bolstered its standing with a 76-68 home win over Fairfield. The Stags are also slipping at the wrong time.
Bye or no bye, Stores just wants his team taking it a game at a time. He said his team just “didn’t have it” Friday as it now looks ahead to a road battle at fourth-place Quinnipiac.
“They made shots tonight, like we made shots when we were out there,” Stores said after watching his team split the season series with Marist. “It sucks to lose at home by that much, but we’re gonna learn from it.”
Stores played 12 guys on Friday night, and is well aware of the fact he will need to squeeze out every minute from his collection of role players if the Jaspers are to have a longer stay in Atlantic City than people think.
Having to play one less game in Atlantic City could help a lot for Manhattan, a team looking to become a Cinderella next month after already becoming a conference darling this season under Stores. But a bye may not be meant to be, and the Jaspers will now need some divine intervention in order to get it after Marist spoiled what could have been another great step for Manhattan.
“When I played, we had 10 or 11 guys playing, and that’s with back-to-back championships,” Stores said. “I’m trying to use guys who don’t really play big minutes because you’re gonna need everybody in AC.”
Niagara will have to lose at least one of its next two games to give Manhattan an outside chance at a bye. Counting Sunday’s game at Quinnipiac, the Jaspers have three games left and will need to win all three if Niagara goes 1-1. If Niagara goes winless, Manhattan could tie Niagara with a 2-1 finish or even pass the Purple Eagles by winning out. But in the event both teams finish tied, Niagara would win the tiebreaker because of its superior record against current two-seed Rider, who swept the Jaspers.
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