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Siena Saints  Manhattan Jaspers  

Game #8-393: Siena Saints at Manhattan Jaspers January 14, 2012 7:00 pm Draddy Gymnasium BBState Stats/Recap

Anyone who told me I was an idiot for skipping the Saints' game on Saturday is the real idiot. Because I saw the Saints.

However, they weren't the Saints who lost to the 49ers in the NFL playoffs.

Instead, 1,275 people and I succumbed to the lure of a MAAC basketball game between the Saints of Siena and the Jaspers of Manhattan, who were coming off Thursday's dramatic 17-point comeback and buzzer-beating win over Iona.

Let's just say it was a rough day for Saints fans around the country.

As the football Saints allowed Alex Smith -- Alex frickin' Smith! -- to march 85 yards in 1:28 for the game-winning touchdown, the basketball Saints were in the midst of a lopsided second half against the Jaspers. Manhattan outscored Mitch Buonaguro's squad 44-26 after the break, and a stretch of 33 seconds enabled the Jaspers to extricate themselves from what had been a tight first 21-plus minutes.

With the score knotted at 30, Roberto Colonette buried a 17-footer from the baseline with 18:12 remaining. Then, Mike Alvarado stripped Owen Wignot and fed George Beamon for an and-one layup 18 seconds later. After breaking Manhattan's full-court press, Siena missed a layup, and Alvarado found Kidani Brutus behind the arc for a trey.

38-30 Manhattan. Timeout Siena. 17:39 remaining.

The Jaspers didn't score for another four minutes, but the Saints only mustered three points before the Jaspers found their stroke again. Rhamel Brown scored six straight points, Beamon converted a fast break layup and suddenly Manhattan led 46-33 with just over 12 minutes left.

Siena trimmed the lead to nine, but Manhattan thwarted the comeback attempt with a 23-7 run fueled by a barrage of long range bombs by Brutus (two), Ryan McCoy, Liam McCabe-Moran and Donovan Kates.

As Manhattan pushed the lead to 20, ESPN3's cameraman served as the only distraction -- albeit an ephemeral one -- from the "party" a group of six-year-old boy scouts were having in the top row of the bleachers (after the leader of the boy scouts told them to stop throwing a water bottle, one boy exclaimed, "But we're having a party!").

The Jaspers led by enough with three minutes left that Steve Masiello unloaded his bench, inserting Djibril Coulibaly, DeCarlos Anderson, Chris Viven and the one-armed Kevin Laue into the game. You didn't read the previous sentence incorrectly -- Laue, as far as records show, is the only one-armed hoopster in NCAA Division I history.

Perhaps because I spent a good portion of the second half checking on the NFL Saints, I might have missed some O.D. Anosike rebounds. Still, the nation's rebounding leader quietly totaled 16 boards to go with 16 points. The double-double was his 13th straight, a streak that currently leads the nation, but it wasn't nearly enough to beat Manhattan.

The Jaspers won by a final of 72-53.

It's amazing how much of an impact coaches have in college basketball. Just one season ago, Barry Rohrssen -- with a very similar roster -- won six games at the helm of Manhattan. Two months into his rookie season, Masiello has doubled last season's win total.

A 20-win finish isn't out of the question.

The 12-7 Jaspers, who beat the preseason No. 1 and 2 MAAC teams consecutively, are set up to potentially win their next five with Niagara (twice), Marist (twice) and Canisius on the upcoming schedule.

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