March 14, 2002
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VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) - It took nearly 28 minutes of basketball before Villanova finally got itself together in the first round of the NIT.
The Wildcats (18-12) trailed the entire first half and were still behind by six early in the second before finally pulling away, with Gary Buchanan scoring 17 of his 22 points after halftime in an 84-69 win Thursday night over Manhattan.
"They were a little quicker at every position," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "It took us some time to get used to it. I was not surprised that we fell behind early."
Villanova did not score for the first 7:10 of the game and turned the ball over 14 times in the first half to trail 33-27 at the break. Villanova still trailed midway through the second half but a layup by Brooks Sales with 12:18 left gave the Wildcats their first lead at 45-43 with 12:18 left.
"We played as good a half as we've played all year but we just couldn't sustain it," Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez said. "I couldn't ask our kids to give more than they did. We sent the kitchen sink out there but we just ran out of gas."
The Wildcats' advantage reached 11 when a 3-pointer by Buchanan capped a 6-0 run to make it 71-60 with 3:56 remaining.
Sales had 17 points, giving him 1,003 for his career. He also has 837 career rebounds, making him the eighth Wildcat in history to reach the 1,000-point and 800-rebound plateaus.
"I was nervous when they jumped out on us," Sales said. "But I knew we were going to make a run, it was just a matter of time."
Derrick Snowden scored 21 points and Reggie Bryant added 16 for Villanova, which made 27-of-50 (54 percent) from the field to advance to the second round of the NIT for the second time in the last three years.
The Wildcats will play the winner of Saturday night's Vanderbilt-Louisiana Tech game which will be played on Saturday night.
Luis Flores matched a career-high with 33 points and Dave Holmes added 19 for the Jaspers (20-9). According to Gonzalez, the team benefited from playing in the NIT this season.
"This was a chance to play in a postseason tournament against a Big East Conference team on the road," he said. "This makes young people grow up."
The Wildcats turned the ball over seven times and missed five straight shots as Manhattan took an 11-0 lead, paced by nine points by Flores, who scored 16 in the half.
Wright did not blame the slow start on possible disappointment of playing in the NIT instead of the more glamorous NCAA.
"I told the team that it is a privilege to play another 40 minutes together," said Wright, though he added that, "It was not the atmosphere that we are used to. Maybe that's why we didn't start out aggressive."
