Second Half Carries Manhattan Past QU Men's Basketball

Thursday, February 11

Draddy Gymnasium - Riverdale, NY

8:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-98-15; MAAC

Manhattan College

10-12, 7-6MAAC

Quinnipiac

Manhattan

Second Half Carries Manhattan Past QU Men's Basketball

2/11/2016 10:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Manhattan men's basketball team started the second half of a big run to overcome a nine-point halftime deficit and shot 70.8 percent after halftime overall to surge past the Bobcats to take an 84-77 win on Thursday evening at Draddy Gymnasium.

With the win, Manhattan improves to 10-12 overall and gets back over .500 in the MAAC at 7-6. Quinnipiac, meanwhile, drops to 8-15 overall and 5-9 in the MAAC with the loss.

Zane Waterman led five players in double figures for Manhattan with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Calvin Crawford and Rich Williams each had 18 off the bench. Junior guard Daniel Harris (Tampa, Fla.) led Quinnipiac with 16 points, including 5-5 shooting from three-point territory.

The Bobcats led by as many as 13 points late in the first half at 40-27 on a three-pointer from Harris, but Manhattan closed out the half with two baskets in the last 35 seconds to trim the gap to 40-31. The momentum carried over as the Jaspers started the second half with five quick points on a lay-up from Crawford and a three-pointer from Calvin Stores to pull within 40-36. A Williams basket capped off a 12-0 run spanning both halves to make it 40-39, before Harris knocked down a three to temporarily stem the tide.

Williams, though, came right back with a three-pointer and then converted on a fast break to put Manhattan in front 44-43 with 17:01 to play. A three-pointer from Zane Waterman gave the Jaspers a four-point lead at 53-49, before the Bobcats came back to tie it 55-55 on a jumper from junior forward Donovan Smith (Chicago, Ill.) at the 11:20 mark.

A three-pointer from sophomore guard Dimitri Floras (Nashua, N.H.) tied the score at 59-59 at the 10:08 mark, but Waterman had a three-point play to re-establish a three-point lead and Shane Richards hit two foul shots to push the lead to five. Gradually, Manhattan pulled ahead by as many as eight at 75-67 with 3;34 left on a Richards three-pointer, his only field goal of the night.

Senior guard James Ford, Jr. (Hopewell, Va.) hit a jumper and Harris knocked down his fifth three-pointer to close to within 76-73 at the 2:11 mark. After Manhattan answered, Smith dunked off a Harris feed with 1:21 to go. Manhattan hit one of two, and Smith had a shot inside rim out that would have closed to within two.

Ford finished with 13 points for Quinnipiac and freshman forward Abdulai Bundu (Upper Marlboro, Md.) added 12 points and eight rebounds. Stores had 15 and Richards had 12 points (9-10 from the line) and seven assists for Manhattan, which shot 49.1 percent overall for the game, 10-31 for 32.3 percent in the first half and 17-24 for 70.8 in the second half.

Quinnipiac has a quick turnaround before being back in action on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., when it hosts Fairfield for a 2 p.m. contest which will be televised on Sportsnet New York.