Jaspers open season with a win and two loses

It was a busy week for the Manhattan College men’s basketball team, which played three games in six days last week. The Jaspers went 1-2 over the stretch, pushing their record to 1-3 to start the season. The 1-3 start marks the third consecutive year the team begin the season with a 1-3 record.

The Jaspers lost a nightmarish game on Tuesday to Winthrop, in which they gave up 94 points in a 94-81 loss while this past Sunday, the Jaspers lost to Temple, 88-67, after another sluggish performance and allowing Temple to shoot 53 percent from the field.

But the highlight of the week came in between the two losses last Friday night when the Jaspers were led by a pair of newcomers in an 80-68 win over the Hofstra Pride.

Freshman Aaron Walker, the highly touted guard out of Public School Athletic League (PSAL) powerhouse Cardozo High School, made the first start of his collegiate career and logged 15 points with six rebounds. But he wasn’t the major story of the night. Zavier Peart, a transfer from Eastern Florida State, came off the bench and scored a career-high 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the floor.

After Friday night’s performance in the victory over Hofstra, the 6-10, 270-pound Peart had to think long and hard when asked when was the last time he had a game of this caliber.

“Coach told me to change, I went 2.0,” Peart said jokingly.

Coming off the poor performance against Winthrop on Tuesday, Manhattan delivered its best outing of the season against Hofstra. The Jaspers shot a season-best 54 percent from the field and held Hofstra to 39 percent from the floor.

“Good win for us,” said Manhattan head coach Steve Masiello. “More so for the guys. I think they needed to feel good about themselves. Winning always helps.”

After Manhattan’s 7-2, 285-pound center Ahmed Ismail got into early foul trouble in the first half, Masiello went to Peart, who delivered big time for the Jaspers. Peart scored 14 points and shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor in his first extended run of action with Manhattan. The Jaspers also received key contributions from Walker, whose aggressive play and poise handling the ball during various stretches in the game helped Manhattan keep control.

“Coming off of two losses, I felt like I wasn’t doing my job. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough to help the team win,” Walker said. “To get a start was great. I just didn’t want to make coach regret it.”

Hofstra played most of the half without Rokas Gustys, who came in averaging 18 rebounds per game. The big man picked up two fouls, and without him on the floor, the Jaspers outrebounded Hofstra, 17-13 and scored 20 points in the paint.

The Jaspers received contributions from all three of their big men in Ismail, Peart and 6-10 Ak Ojo.

“It’s great when you have that depth, that talent, but more than anything, that mindset,” Masiello said about his rotation of big men. “I have three guys who are willing to bang, get in there and be physical and use 15 fouls. We’ve had success when we’ve had true bigs, and we’re back to having that again, so I’m very fortunate.”

Manhattan maintained control of the game for most of the second half. With the score 70-60 and five minutes remaining, an emphatic Masiello turned to the crowd and implored it to get up and make some noise. With the crowd on its feet and a raucous atmosphere at Draddy Gymnasium, guard Zavier Turner came up with a steal and a finger roll on the other end of the floor to make it 72-60.

The Jaspers held on to the lead and with 1:29 to go, Turner helped seal the game with a nifty layup that stretched the lead to 16 before coasting to their first win of the season. With the win, the Jaspers avoided starting 0-3 for the first time in Masiello’s tenure as head coach.

“The reward for me isn’t winning now,” Masiello said. “The reward for me is getting a championship and getting to the NCAA [Tournament]. I don’t care if we’re 0-30 and I’ve said that every year.

“March 5th we’ll be ready,” Masiello said of the date that tips off the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference [MAAC] tournament. “That’s all I care about.”

Manhattan will be on the road for its next two games as the Jaspers travel to Michigan to take on the University of Detroit Saturday at 2 p.m. before heading to Morgantown, West Virginia to battle the Mountaineers Monday Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.

The Jaspers return home to open up to open MAAC conference play when they host Canisius Friday Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.