RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Antoine Pearson hit an off-balanced layup while falling down in the lane with 9.1 seconds to help Manhattan escape with a 61-60 victory against Morgan State on Wednesday night in the Jaspers' home-opener and the first meeting between the two teams.
Morgan State went ahead 60-58 in a back-and-forth second half when Kevin Thompson scored with 49 seconds remaining. Andrew Gabriel hit a free throw with 21 seconds left to pull Manhattan within one before Pearson's decisive shot.
Reggie Holmes' 3-point attempt at the buzzer for Morgan State was blocked by Darryl Crawford.
Holmes and Thompson scored 12 points each for Morgan State (1-2), which was outrebounded by the Jaspers 30-23 en route to their second loss of the season.
The Bears held a 30-26 advantage at the intermission, but Manhattan began to slowly trim into the lead and with 4:37 left in the game Crawford nailed a 3-pointer to give the Jaspers a 54-51 edge. It marked the Jasper's first lead since the 15:58 mark of the first half.
Marquise Kately led the Bears on the glass with 7 rebounds, including 9 points and a blocked shot. Jermaine "Itchy" Bolden finished with a game-high eight assists, but struggled by shooting just 1-for-6 from the floor for two points.
Chris Smith scored 14 points, Crawford had 12 and Devon Austin 11 for the Jaspers (2-0). Manhattan shot 41.7 percent (20-48) from the field and was a dismal 2-for-13 (15.4%) from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Bears shot 41.2 percent (7-17) from three-point territory and went 22-for-56 from the field.
