March 10, 2003
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
TRENTON, N.J. - The league's best player led the conference's best team to the NCAA tournament.
Luis Flores scored 22 points and made sure Manhattan was never in trouble as the Jaspers beat Fairfield 69-54 Monday night to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament and advance to the NCAAs for the first time since 1995.
Manhattan (23-6) was the preseason pick to win the MAAC and the Jaspers held first place almost all season. They took advantage of the league's new policy giving the regular-season champion a bye to the semifinals and won two games to win it all.
Flores had 30 points in an 82-81 double-overtime win over Niagara in Sunday's semifinals.
In the championship game Flores was 7-for-12 from the field, 7-for-8 from the free throw line, had 10 rebounds, played all 40 minutes and showed leadership.
Every time the Stags (19-11) got within nine points in the second half, the 6-foot-2 junior either scored or drew the attention of the defense to allow someone else an open look. Fairfield got within nine points five times in the last 10 minutes, but never closer.
When Dave Holmes missed three straight free throws and seemed to give the Stags and their fans at the Sovereign Bank Arena some life, Flores became a coach on the floor.
He talked for about 10 seconds with Jason Wingate before the freshman stepped to the line with 1:15 to play. Wingate made both for a 63-52 lead.
Freshman Kenny Minor was up next for the talk from Flores and it worked again as he made two free throws with 1:03 to play to make it 65-52.
The last four free throws were by Flores and he dribbled out the clock near midcourt, smiling and pointing toward the stands as he the Jaspers counted down to their fifth NCAA bid.
Holmes added 12 points for Manhattan, which was 1-3 in its previous MAAC championship game appearances.
Oscar Garcia had 11 points for Fairfield, which hadn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1997. Stags coach Tim O'Toole was a player on Fairfield's 1987 NCAA team.
The Jaspers took the lead for good with a 15-0 run that gave them a 20-7 lead with 10:05 left in the first half. Fairfield got within 26-20 on two free throws by Nick Delfico with 3:49 left, but Flores hit a 3-pointer and baseline jumper and Minor scored off a steal as Manhattan scored seven points in 35 seconds to go up 33-20 with 2:53 to play.
After Siena swept through the tournament last season and reached the NCAA tournament with an under-.500 record, the MAAC changed the rules to give the top seed two byes and move it to the semifinals.
Manhattan swept the MAAC basketball titles as the Lady Jaspers won the women's tournament on Sunday.
The Jaspers' other NCAA appearances came in 1956, 1958 and 1993.
