ALBANY — Bragging rights belong to Manhattan — an NCAA Tournament berth, too.
Meeting in the MAAC Championship game for the third straight year, the third-seeded Jaspers upset their biggest rival, top-seeded Iona, 79-69, on Monday night at the Times Union Center to win their second consecutive conference tournament title (fifth overall) and earn their second straight ticket to the Big Dance.
After losing their top three players from last year's team and nearly losing coach Steve Masiello, the Jaspers (19-13, 13-7) became the first MAAC team to win back-to-back crowns since Siena (2008-10), while achieving the feat for just the second time in school history (2003-04).
Iona (26-8, 17-3), which beat Manhattan twice last month and won the regular-season championship for the third time in the past four years, will play in the NIT. The MAAC's top seed has not won the tournament title since 2010.
Shutting down Iona's sharpshooters (5-of-22 3-pointers) one day after the Gaels set a tournament record with 19 made 3s, the Jaspers flustered their rival of less than 10 miles away, frustrating the finesse team with its physicality and discipline.
Manhattan's frontline had its way from start to finish, with Emmy Andujar putting up 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Ashton Pankey added 21 points and nine rebounds. Iona was led by senior David Laury, who had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
The pace was frenetic and the play was chippy, exactly what would be expected of two teams who have seen each other too often. Iona made its first three shots, appearing to carry over its momentum from Sunday, but the Jaspers soon executed everything they planned to do.
Doing what so many Iona opponents talk about but ultimately fail to accomplish, Manhattan made Iona step inside the perimeter, playing up on each shooter and leaving the team's multiple itchy trigger-fingers to force far too many shots, rarely in rhythm.
After those first three shots, Iona missed 11 of its next 13, allowing the Jaspers to take the lead, passing with the crispness of the 1970s Knicks, as Andujar and Pankey dominated the Gaels' weak interior defense. Iona briefly retook the lead, 20-19, midway through the first half, but Manhattan senior RaShawn Stores scored nine straight points — a three-point play and two 3-pointers — to put the Jaspers ahead the rest of the half.
Leading by 11 with less than four minutes left in the half, Manhattan lost momentum when Andujar, who had 12 points and six rebounds in the first half, picked up his second foul, forcing Masiello to remove the senior.
A.J. English, smothered by the Jaspers' defense, opened 1-of-5 from the field after averaging more than 30 points in the first two games of the tournament, but couldn't be kept quiet for long. With an individual 8-0 run, English ended the half with back-to-back 3-pointers and cut Iona's deficit to 39-37, leaving the Gaels in far better shape at the intermission than the team's 35 percent shooting from the field suggested.
Manhattan took a seven-point lead at the start of the second half, but Iona responded with a 9-0 run, retaking the lead, 50-49, as the see-saw of the last three years swung back and forth as rapidly as ever. The teams traded multiple leads, making momentum little more than the team that last touched the ball.
The Jaspers eventually gained control with less than three minutes remaining, taking a 73-64 lead, as unlikely X-factor Donovan Kates hit 4-of-6 3-pointers after hitting under 21 percent for the season, while Iona swingman Isaiah Williams, who set a tournament record with nine 3-pointers on Sunday, shot 1-of-7 from outside. English finished with only 10 points.
Manhattan's plan was perfect, the execution absolutely flawless.
Now, The Bronx is back, the champs, still the champs.
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