Manhattan battles, but there will be no MAAC tourney three-peat

ALBANY — Heart can only carry a champion so far.

Manhattan fought host Siena with the sꦇame tenacity and hustle that helped it capture the past two MAAC tournament titles, cutting a 16-point second-half lead to three with fewer than five minutes remaining, but the undermanned and undersized Jaspers’ run ended in an 89-76 quarterfinal loss Saturday night at the Times Union Center.

Struggling with a thin bench all season, sixth-seeded Manhattan’s (13-18) biggest weakness was exposed in a foul-plagued affair, ending its ꦑseven-game MAAC tournament winning streak despite a brilliant effort from Rich Williams, who finished with 26 points.

Monday will mark🃏 the first title game since 2012 not to feature the Jaspers.

“I was really proud of my guys’ effort, what they stood for,” Manhattan coach Steve Masiello said. “Obviously you want to get a third, that was our goal … and that vision now starts over Monday morning. … Obviously we wanted to win this tournament, but it’s tough to do it every year.”

Buoyed by the energy of its home crowd and an o🔯verwhelming frontcourt advantage, No. 3 seed Siena (21-11) won the battle on the boards, 46-21, and held a plus-25 edge in free throws to move on to Sunday’s semifinal against second-seeded Iona (20-10).

The Saints tilted the scale with th🌳eir size, gaining a 25-12 advantage in second-chance points, but missed their opportunity at an♛ early knockout, allowing the experienced underdog to believe the upset was brewing.

After trailing 13-4, Manhattan’s defense took the form of its championsܫhip predecessors, as Williams and Tyler Wilson (14 points) willed the Jaspers to a 23-21 lead. However, the momentum was halted by a parade of whistles, with the teams called for a combined 29 first-half fouls.

Manhattan’s three-leading scorers — senior Shane Richards, Williams and Zane Waterman — spent most of the half on the bench, and it was then that Siena made its game-swinging run. The Saints took a 46-34 halftime lead behind Brett Bisping, who finished with 22 points and 16 reb💜ounds.

“Steve, with that⛄ team, he’s just one g🎶uy short of having another championship run,” Siena coach Jimmy Patsos said. “There’s no quit in them. They have this thing where they just play so hard and they can play hard for like five hours. I knew they were coming back.”

Siena took its biggest lead, 66-50, with under 11 minutes left,ꦬ but the two-time defending champs wouldn’t bow out quietly. The Jaspers forced 20 turnovers to transfer pressure back to Siena, while Williams threw the offense on his back.

After an 8-0 run, the Jaspers trailed 🐭73-70 and sensed another incredible story was being added to their collec🐭tion.

“We’re used to theses times,” capt♎ain RaShawn Stores said. “We know when we’re down, we look at each other and we kno🎃w we’ve been through this.”

But the comeback was clotheslined soon after, as Javion Ogunyemi’s 3-pointer off
glass put Siena up eight with ju🌞st over three minutes left.

Rꦗichards and Stores, two of the defining players of one of the greatest runs in school history, left the floor and hugged their emotional coach.

It was over, but it was everythiওng they ever could have wanted.

“After the loss, I went in there anꩵd I said, ‘Keep your heads up, no reason to be down,’ ” Stores said. “It’s been a great journey. If you asked me this five years ago, I would’ve never thought of this. This is still a dream to me.”