Men’s basketball celebrated their win with participants of the kid’s clinic. RAVEN JAMES / COURTESY
Grace Cardinal, Editor-in-Chief
Men’s basketball had yet another nail-biter of a game on Saturday, Feb. 8 against the St. Peter’s Peacocks. After a well fought overtime, the Jaspers came out on top by one point, winning 84-83 and bringing their record to 11-10.
The game was filled with energy from the first buzzer, but St. Peter’s was able to sink the first hoop. Jaden Winston quickly took over, shooting a three-pointer and letting the Jaspers take what would be one of their few leads of the game, 3-2. The Jaspers were able to soon extend this lead with two free throws, leading to an advantage of 5-2.
Manhattan’s defense was commanding, but St. Peter’s offense still found openings. The Jaspers struggled with some slippery fingers and allowed for a turnover, letting the Peacocks’ Adetokunbo Bakare land a three-pointer that put St.Peter’s back in the lead five minutes into the half with a score of 7-5.
Manhattan continued to struggle to get the ball through the hoop, allowing St. Peter’s to keep their lead. With a rocky start to the first half from the Jaspers, the Peacocks managed to extend their lead to five after a triple from Bryce Eaton.
Manhattan allowed St. Peter’s to keep their six point lead throughout the half, chasing them but not able to keep up. With five minutes left in the half, the score sat at 25-19, St. Peter’s lead. Two good free throws extended this lead to 27-19 for the Peacocks.
The Jaspers’ Shaquil Bender had a solid three pointer from downtown with just under five minutes left in the first half in an attempt to close the gap. The play was followed closely by a jumper and a freethrow from Will Sydnor, allowing the Jaspers to close the Peacocks’ lead to 27-25 with 3:45 to go.
Sydnor, an invaluable asset to the Jaspers’ roster this season, has been head-to-head with Devin Dinkins in record gameplay. When asked how two feed off each other’s energy, Sydnor didn’t hesitate.
“All of it. I feed off all of it,” Sydnor said. “[In the] locker room, practice, off the court [and] on the court.”
Shortly after, Jaspers’ Marko Ljubicic was able to close the gap to one point, but was called on a technical foul for his dunk. The resulting free throws allowed the Peacocks to maintain a lead of 32-286 .
The Jaspers continued to chase the lead for the rest of the first half, but to no avail. The half ended with a score of 40-35, after a foul on Sydnor. A last minute attempt to close the gap was made by Winston, but was unsuccessful.
Head Coach John Gallagher credited the Peacocks for their intense game play.
“I’d like to give credit to St. Peter’s and head coach Bashir Mason,” Gallagher said. “They have had injuries, they’ve had bad luck, they’ve had balls bounced the wrong way, and they continue to fight, and they continue to compete, and they play like champions. I don’t care what the record is, they are going to be an extremely hard out down the stretch. We’re fortunate to win both games against them.”
The first points of the second half were put up by Manhattan, with free throws from Wesley Robinson. Bender and Sydnor soon capitalized off of this lead, both shooting triples that gave Manhattan their second lead of the game, 43-42.
Bender yet again extended the team’s lead shortly after with another three-pointer, bringing the score to 46-44. Immediately after, the Peacocks’ Bakare, a standout for the team throughout the game, brought back the team’s lead 47-46 with 15 minutes left in gameplay.
The Peacocks refused to lose their energy in the second half, and soon extended their lead over Manhattan after scoring seven unanswered points, bringing the score to 55-48. The Jaspers’ Dinkins lowered the deficit after hitting a scoring streak with 10 minutes to go in the game, scoring back-to-back triples that brought Manhattan to 54-58. A jumper from Bender further closed the gap to 56-58.
Dinkins, a standout for the Jaspers, was announced as the MAAC Male Student-Athlete of the week on Feb. 5. As for where his head is at in game play, he has one goal: winning.
“Really just focusing and doing anything to win,” Dinkins said. “This was a big game for us to win.”
A key play for the Jaspers came with just under six minutes left, when a dunk from Masiah Gilyard tied the game 63-63, a feat the Jaspers struggled to consistently make happen throughout the game. Dinkins was once again able to tie the score 67-67 with just over three minutes left in gameplay after a pull up.
The last minutes of the game were hard fought, with the Jaspers managing a 71-69 lead before a St. Peter’s timeout. The lead did not last long, quickly becoming tied back up at 71-71 with a driving layup from the Peacocks’ Eric Morgan Jr. – the last score of regular gameplay before overtime.
Shortly into the five minutes of OT playtime on the clock, the Peacocks put up two points with a jumper from Eaton. The Jaspers soon after were able to make two good free throws, tying the score once again. The back and forth of OT was filled with energy, desperation, heavy fouls and sunken hoops for both teams, but ultimately the Jaspers were able to come out victorious by one point with seconds left after a foul shot.
Looking forward to a potential run in the MAAC championships, Gallagher hopes to tighten up the team’s defense.
“I think we’re a team that’s two possessions a half away from really tightening our defense up from being really special,” Gallagher said. “It’s two to three possessions, and it’s that lack of focus. But look, we shot 50 in the second half, which is a great number, from three, 40 from the floor. So we have to figure ways to get our offense cooking, but the defense has to be our staple.”
The next game for the men at the time of publication will be Friday, Feb. 21 at Iona.