Jaspers head to Tulsa, Ireland this season

There’s still roughly three months before the Manhattan College men’s basketball team tips off its season, but it’s never too early to check out who the Jaspers will take on outside of the usual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference suspects.

The Jaspers, who have won two of the past four MAAC championships, will look to rebound from an injury-plagued season that saw Manhattan finish with a 10-22 overall record last season — and just 5-13 in the MAAC — before being bounced in the first round of the conference tournament in a one-point loss to Rider.

That hoped-for rebound season will begin when the Jaspers open their season at Draddy Gym for the first time in six years, hosting St. Francis College of Brooklyn on Wednesday, Nov. 15, before entertaining Harvard. 

The Jaspers then head to Estero, Florida, for the Gulf Coast Showcase from Nov. 20 and Nov. 22. From there Manhattan College will return to the Bronx and travel the four miles or so to Rose Hill to take on Fordham in the annual Battle of the Bronx on Nov. 26. Manhattan knocked off the Rams in last season’s meeting, 60-53, and now own a 57-52 advantage in the series. 

Manhattan will open December by flying to the Emerald Isle on Dec. 1 to partake in the inaugural Belfast Classic in Northern Ireland. The Jaspers will face Holy Cross in their opening game before taking on either Towson or LaSalle in the championship or consolation game on Dec. 2. 

The Jaspers will fit in four more games before Christmas with Morgan State arriving at Draddy Gym for a contest Dec. 9. That will be the final home game in the month as the Jaspers will close out December with a three-game road trip that takes them to Tulsa (Dec. 16), Hofstra (Dec. 20) and Seton Hall (Dec. 23). 

Both Tulsa and Seton Hall earned at-large bids for the NCAA tournament last season, and it will be the first meeting between the Pirates and Jaspers since 2005.

The MAAC schedule will be released later.

Another new face at the Mount

Mount Saint Vincent already has unveiled new men’s and women’s soccer coaches for the upcoming season. Now the Dolphins are ready to introduce their new men’s lacrosse coach. 

His name? Michael Bryant.

If that sounds a tad familiar, it’s because this will be Bryant’s second go-round with the Dolphins as he also was head coach in the 2015 season. Bryant replaces former head coach Andrew Wendol, who resigned last month.

Bryant was a standout lacrosse player for four years at SUNY Cortland, where he was the team captain his senior season and scored a robust 31 goals in his career.

Lehman men’s hoops scores big off court

Each season, the National Association of Basketball Coaches announces its Honors Court, recognizing athletes who not only have scored on the court, but excelled off it. 

Lehman landed five members of its men’s basketball team on this year’s court. 

The Lightning starting five include Mylo Mitchell, Luis Hernandez, Vince Young, Edwin Pascual and Dominek Tucker. To be eligible, each athlete must be a varsity player, be either a junior or senior, and have a GPA of 3.2 or higher. 

Both Pascual and Young have graduated this past May, but the trio of Mitchell, Hernandez and Tucker will be back to take another crack at leading the Lightning to a City University of New York Athletic Conference crown — and perhaps landing on the Honors Court for a second time.
Last season the Lightning reached the CUNYAC semifinals, where they dropped a heartbreaking 73-71 decision to City College of New York.