MAAC tourney preview

Jaspers embark on ‘Road to Repeat’ in tournament

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March. It’s the most anticipated month on the college basketball calendar. It’s when champions are crowned, dreams are achieved and hearts are broken.

It’s a month when teams search for greatness and crave championship hardware. When players and coaches cut down nets, fans storm courts and anxious teams wait for their name to be called on Selection Sunday.

Yes, March Madness will be in full swing beginning this weekend, and the Manhattan College Jaspers will be knee deep in it as they head to Albany to partake in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament. And their timing couldn’t be better.

“We’re coming along. I feel like we’re right where we need to be right now,” Manhattan senior Donovan Kates said.

Where the Jaspers are right exactly is the third seed in the tournament as they roll into Albany looking to defend their 2014 MAAC championship. Manhattan, which received a bye in the first round, will see its first action Saturday when it faces the winner of Thursday, March 5’s contest between No. 6 Quinnipiac and No. 11 Marist. It will be the first step in the “Road to Repeat.”

“I don’t think the MAAC is a harder conference this year,” said Ashton Pankey, Manhattan’s 6-10 forward. “Last year was a lot tougher. This year it’s wide open so we want to go up there and try to be back-to-back champions. That’s the mindset we have.”

Manhattan (15-13) swept the season series from Marist, winning 60-38 at Draddy Gym on Dec. 7 before logging a 67-54 victory in Poughkeepsie on Feb. 23. The Jaspers split their season series with Quinnipiac, losing 73-59 on Jan. 23 in Connecticut — Manhattan’s most lopsided conference loss of the season — before exacting a measure of revenge with a 69-65 victory over the Bobcats on Senior Day in Riverdale on Sunday. Marist finished the season in last place with a 6-24 mark while Quinnipiac, which finished in sixth place, crossed the regular-season finish line with a 15-14 mark. 

But it makes no difference to these Jaspers who they will line up against Saturday.

“If we play Marist or we play Quinnipiac, it’s going to be a dog fight with either team,” Pankey said. “The first game is always the hardest. So we just got to be ready for Saturday.”

Manhattan senior forward Emmy Andujar echoed Pankey’s sentiments.

“We’re not just going to assume that we’re going to be playing Quinnipiac,” Andujar said. “Marist has also been playing real well lately so we just got to see how that is going to turn out.”

A victory Saturday by the Jaspers would most likely set up a meeting with second-seeded Rider in Sunday’s semifinals. Rider would first have to get by either No. 7 St. Peter’s or No. 10 Fairfield, who will square off in a Thursday, March 5 night first-round game.

Manhattan came up short in both regular-season contests to Rider this season, with each loss coming in overtime. The Jaspers dropped an 82-79 verdict at home in January before Rider claimed an 85-77 OT win at home in New Jersey in early February.

The only way Manhattan could meet archrival and top-seeded Iona — the only other team to sweep the Jaspers this season — would be in the Monday, March 9 championship game, which will air on ESPN2 at 9 p.m.

“Preparation is the key,” Kates said. “We’re just going to come in and have a good week of practice and be ready to play whichever team we see. We’re starting to mesh, the younger guys are coming along and we can go throw 10 or 11 bodies at each team and be fresh. We’ll keep putting pressure on teams and win it hopefully.”

Let the Madness begin.

Manhattan College, Jaspers, March Madness, MAAC tournament, Sean Brennan

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