Box score
RIVERDALE, NY—Manhattan fought off an early second-half rally by visiting NJIT and turned away the Highlanders, 70-58, in the men's basketball season opener for both teams Saturday afternoon in Draddy Gymnasium.
The Jaspers controlled the latter minutes of the first half to build what appeared to be a comfortable 10-point halftime lead, 30-20, and then scored the first bucket of the second half for a 32-20 advantage with 19:17 left.
But the Highlanders responded with a 12-4 run, capped by Isaiah Wilkerson's old school three-point play that trimmed the Manhattan lead to 34-32 with 16:41 left. The game stayed close for several more minutes, but NJIT did not get closer than that two-point margin. And Manhattan eventually got its lead back to double-digits and spent the last 5:16 leading by at least 11 points.
The Highlanders featured a game-high 20 points from their most experienced player, junior Jheryl Wilson and they also got 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for sophomore Isaiah Wilkerson. It was the first double-figure rebound game of Wilkerson's career and consequently his first college double-double. Wilson barely missed a double-double himself, grabbing nine rebounds.
Two freshman guards started for the Highlanders and they each showed some good things. Point guard Drejon Scott finished with eight points and did not commit a turnover in 38 minutes and Chris Flores scored seven points and picked up a team-leading four assists.
Another freshman, Nick Lopez, came off the bench at forward and collected seven rebounds in 23 minutes for NJIT.
Manhattan senior swingman Darryl Crawford led the Jaspers in points (17), rebounds (9) and assists (4), guards Nick Walsh, a junior, and Antoine Pearson, a senior, came off the bench for 13 points and 10 points, respectively.
NJIT and Manhattan have now been each other's season-opening opponent in each of the last four seasons. The first time they met, on November 11, 2006, NJIT was playing its first game as a reclassifying Division I program and the Highlanders upset the Jaspers, 56-55. But the next two games between the schools were drastically different, as Manhattan won by scores of 70-28 in 2007 and 56-32 last season.
The Jaspers scored the first four points of the game, but the Highlanders served notice that things would be competitive again, fighting back and taking a 9-6 lead on Wilson's three-point basket with 15 minutes left in the half and then taking what would be their biggest lead of the game, 12-8, on a trey by Wilkerson with 11:25 left.
NJIT managed only one field goal and eight more points in the half, by which time Manhattan reclaimed the lead and extended it to 30-20 by period's end. Crawford had 10 points at the half, while Wilkerson and Wilson each had six for NJIT, which shot just 5-for-27 (18.5 percent) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Manhattan's Andrew Gabriel made it 32-20 with a layup on the Jaspers' first possession of the half, but NJIT's Scott hit a two-point jumper and then a three on consecutive trips down the floor to spark a 12-4 rally in a span of 2:22.
After Wilkerson's three-point play closed the score to 34-32 with 16:41 left, the teams traded scores and it was 39-36 for Manhattan a couple of minutes later. But NJIT missed three-point shots on its next three possessions and the Jaspers picked up a three-pointer by Crawford from the top of the key and a two-point bucket from Pearson to go back up by eight points.
NJIT's Wilson scored on a layup to pull his team back to within six, 44-38, but Manhattan's Gabriel scored layups on the next two possessions and the Jasper lead was 10, 48-38, with 12:09 remaining.
The Highlanders cut the deficit to single-digits three more times, the latest at 7:06 on a Wilson drive down the lane that made the score 53-44.
But Walsh, Manhattan's pure shooting guard, hit a jumper with 5:16 left and a three with 4:55 left, before Pearson's layup capped a 7-0 run that resulted in Manhattan's biggest lead—16 points at 60-44, with 4:09 left.
The rebounding totals favored Manhattan, 40-38, while the turnovers were even at 14 apiece.
NJIT will be back in action Monday at 7 pm, when the Highlanders play their home opener against St. Joseph's of New York in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
