Jaspers return to court

The Jaspers are finally back to basketball.

After a historic season that saw Manhattan College make the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade, the squad opened the 2014-15 campaign on Saturday with an 81-66 loss to Florida State in Tallahassee, Florida.

Head coach Steve Masiello was back patrolling the Jaspers’ sideline, something that was in doubt after a falsified resume cost him a head coaching job offer at the University of South Florida and nearly his job at Manhattan, too. Masiello has since earned his degree from the University of Kentucky, addressing the cause of the scandal.

The Jaspers will play their first 13 games of the season at 11 different venues, including a 77-68 overtime loss at UMass on Tuesday that tipped off at 11 a.m. as part of ESPN’s 24-hour college basketball marathon. Emmy Andujar led the Jaspers with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Rich Williams’ alley-oop dunk of an inbounds pass from Andujar with 0.8 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 61 to force overtime.

Manhattan will continue to play in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic on Saturday, Nov. 22 against Binghamton at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.

Against Florida State, the Jaspers led 23-13 at the 7:26 mark of the first half thanks to their first seven field goals coming from three-point range. But the Seminoles’ 19-1 run spanning from the end of the first half into the beginning of the second gave them a 45-31 lead, which they would not relinquish.

Despite their hot start, Manhattan finished the game shooting only 28.6 percent from the field.

“Give Florida State credit, they got out to our shooters,” Masiello said after the game. “And their size is so imposing when you get in the lane, they force you to make tough twos.”

Shane Richards led Manhattan with 17 points but shot only 4-of-16 from the field and 3-for-12 from three-point range. Ashton Pankey had 14 points and seven rebounds, Emmy Andujar added nine points and nine rebounds and Cincinnati transfer Jermaine Lawrence had four points in his debut with the Jaspers.