on campus - Article - Manhattan College

Jason Wingate ’06
26 manhattan.edu
Men’s Basketball Finishes Season at NIT
The old adage, “What doesn’t kill you,
makes you stronger,” epitomizes the
2005-06 Manhattan men’s basketball
season, which saw the Jaspers overcome
many ups and downs on the way to a
MAAC Regular Season Championship
and a run deep into the NIT. Head coach
Bobby Gonzalez and the team will be
remembered for the numerous memorable
moments and games that brought joy
and pride to the Jasper faithful.
Expectations were high entering the
season, as the Jaspers were selected
second in the MAAC Preseason Poll and
had two players, sophomores CJ Anderson
and Arturo Dubois, named to Preseason
All-MAAC Teams. Joining that talented
duo was fellow sophomore Jeff Xavier,
as well as an extremely experienced
backcourt of senior co-captains Kenny
Minor and Jason Wingate.
The season kicked off with
four formidable opponents
(Seton Hall, George Mason,
Syracuse and Rhode Island),
three of whom received NCAA
berths at the conclusion of the
season. Struggling at times to
find the right chemistry and
identity as a team, Manhattan
dropped its first four games.
But, just as pundits were
about to write them off, the
team came together and ran off
10 straight wins, including
victories over local rivals
Fordham and Iona, with the
road win over the Gaels being
the first for the Jaspers in
nine seasons.
Manhattan’s string of good fortune
seemed to have run its course as the
second semester began and the team’s
top scorer and rebounder, CJ Anderson,
was now lost for the season. Once again,
the anti-Manhattan contingent was
proclaiming the Jaspers’ season to be
lost, as the Green and White lost its
first post-Anderson game in convincing
fashion. Junior center Guy Ngarndi and
Minor each suffered hand injuries at
almost the same time and both players
missed several weeks’ worth of games.
This time could have been the nadir
of the season for Manhattan, but this
team showed the spirit and resilience
that is the trademark of the program,
as the team, down to just eight dressed
players, kept pace with conference
leading Iona in the MAAC standings.
Following a nonconference game versus
Long Beach State, where at halftime
Manhattan welcomed back and honored
the top players from the first 100 seasons
of Jasper men’s basketball, both Ngarndi
and Minor made dramatic returns in time
for the final two games of the regular
season. In the duo’s first game back,
Manhattan downed Fairfield to set up
a showdown with rival Iona in the final
game of the regular season.
The MAAC schedulers must have
been patting themselves on the back
as Showdown Sunday approached. The
game was a televised affair pitting the
top two teams in the conference against
each other, with the Regular Season
Championship and the top-seed in the
MAAC Tournament on the line.
The game, Senior Night for the four
Manhattan seniors, lived up to, and
possibly exceeded, the hype, as it
came down to the final seconds with
Wingate giving Manhattan the lead
for good with just under two minutes
remaining and icing the game with four
clutch free throws down the stretch.
The win earned Manhattan its third
MAAC Regular Season Championship
in the last four years.
Before the MAAC Championships
began, Dubois, Wingate and Xavier were
named to the All-MAAC Second Team,
and Gonzalez was named the 2005-06
The Rock MAAC Coach of the Year.
Unfortunately, the Jaspers’ stay at the
MAAC Tournament was short-lived, as
Manhattan ran into a red-hot Saint
Peter’s team in the semifinals.
But, by virtue of their regular season
championship, the Jaspers’ season was
not over. They received an automatic
berth to the NIT, beginning with just the
second home postseason game in program
history against Fairleigh Dickinson in an
Opening Round Game. Wingate, as he has
done so many times over the course of
his career, came up big for the Jaspers
again. He hit a jumper to give Manhattan
the lead late in the game, as well as two
Kenny Minor ’06
free throws to put the game away and
give the Jaspers their first win in the
NIT since 1992.
The win over FDU propelled Manhattan
into a nationally televised game at
powerhouse and ACC stalwart Maryland
in the NIT First Round. Heading into the
game, Manhattan knew it would take an
inspired effort to pull off the upset, and
that is exactly what happened, as Xavier
became just the fifth Manhattan player
to score 30 or more points in an NIT
game. He poured in a game-high 31
as the Jaspers downed the Terrapins,
87-84, and handed Maryland its third
nonconference home loss in its last 119
games. Foul trouble in the game brought
Manhattan down to five remaining in the
final seconds, with sophomore reserve
Franck Traore coming up with two huge
rebounds and two free throws to help
put the game away.
That victory thrust the Jaspers into
the Second Round and a date with CAA
member Old Dominion. Manhattan’s
magical run came to an end in Norfolk,
Va., as the potential game-winning shot
went in and out in the waning seconds.
The team concluded its season with a
20-11 record and provided Manhattan with
its fourth 20-win season in the last five
seasons, its fifth straight winning season,
and its fourth postseason appearance
(two NCAAs and two NITs) in the past
five years.
The Jaspers will graduate a senior
class that will go down as one of the
winningest classes in the history of the
program but return a talented group
that will look to keep Manhattan College
on the lips of college basketball
prognosticators for years to come.