Marist defeated Manhattan, 80-68, in a hot-blooded feud behind an explosive second half.
The Red Foxes close out their six-game homestand on a four-game winning streak, eclipsing 80 points for the first time this season against a Division I opponent.
“To be 2-0 against some tough opponents, we are very pleased,” said head coach John Dunne. “We’ve got a long way to go before we are a finished product, but I love where we are at right now.”
With the win, Dunne now extends his winning streak against the Jaspers to six, as Manhattan head coach John Gallagher has yet to beat the Foxes in his three seasons as head coach.
Senior guard Elijah Lewis tallied a season-high 22 points in the victory; graduate student guard Rhyjon Blackwell posted 17 and sophomore center Tarik Watson dropped a season-high 13 points in as many minutes.
The Marist defense extended its streak of holding opponents to sub-40 percent shooting from the field to eight games in a row; the Jaspers were the closest opponent to breaking that streak yet, finishing at 38 percent from the field.
Junior guard Jaden Winston continued his prowess as Manhattan’s go-to scorer, pouring in 19 points.
Turnovers were an issue early; Marist racked up four turnovers in as many minutes as both teams combined for just 7 points.
The Jaspers came out in an aggressive full-court trap after the first media timeout and wreaked havoc. The Red Foxes tallied two more turnovers in part of a three-minute scoring drought, while Manhattan cruised to a 10-0 run to take a 12-3 lead early.
After head coach John Dunne called a timeout, Marist came out reinvigorated, responding with a 12-0 run over the next two minutes to claim a 15-12 advantage.
“I thought it was more us than them. They were in the right positions, but I feel like we were playing carelessly—not aggressive or confident enough,” said Dunne. “Once we started throwing the ball over the top as the game went on, we got more confident.”
The hot streak blossomed to 19-3 in favor of the Foxes; the Jaspers had shot 1 for their last 10 field goal attempts with seven minutes remaining in the first half.
Marist lost their hot hand, opening the door for the Jaspers; junior guard Jaden Winston soared inside for an and-one to tie the game at 24.
Knotted at 33 at the half, both sides struggled to convert on open threes, sitting beneath 22 percent from downtown with three makes each.
Reliable sharpshooters, graduate student Rhyjon Blackwell and sophomore guard Justin Menard, shot 2-for-11 combined from beyond the arc.
Although neck-in-neck in many major categories, the Jaspers’ aggressive driving saw them attempt 11 first-half free throws to Marist’s four.
The second half started with fireworks: both units combined for 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting in the opening three minutes, including three three-pointers. Highlighting the show was a thunderous slam from senior forward Jaden Daughtry off of an inbounds pass from under the basket.
Blackwell knocked down back-to-back threes from the wing as neither team showed any signs of slowing down offensively.
Controversial foul calls on Daughtry and Collins-Roberts, which stuck them with their third and fourth fouls and a trip to the bench, saw tempers run hot nearing the halfway mark of the half. After Blackwell drew a charge, McCann exploded into a frenzy during the media timeout as neither team could contain their anger at each other and the referees.
“We were just focused on getting stops, We needed to settle down,” said Blackwell. “The energy—I like it a lot. It feels great when the crowd gets into it.”
Back-to-back buckets from Jenkins had the Jasper bench energized, but sophomore center Tarik Watson barrelled inside for an and-one layup to reclaim a 55-53 Red Foxes lead. Another Watson and-one from the same spot a couple of minutes later grew their lead to seven with eight minutes to play.
Two layups from sophomore center Jason Schofield and a put-back from Daughtry forced Gallagher to call a timeout as his Jaspers trailed by a game-high 13 points with just under five minutes to play.
The closest the Jaspers got was within nine. Marist kept rolling and moved to 6-2 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.
Marist will play their first road game in 34 days on December 13th, traveling to Rhode Island to take on Bryant. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
Edited by Nate Shoemaker
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