RALEIGH, N.C. - The little team from the Big Apple was every bit as good as promised.
By Associated Press
Published March 18, 2004
Led by 26 points from hotshot guard Luis Flores, 12th-seeded Manhattan defeated fifth-seeded Florida 75-60 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday - an "upset" that really wasn't much of an upset at all.
"Coming into the game, we knew we would have to have a super human effort. We always knew we had to stick together as one in order to have a chance of winning," said Flores.
Manhattan (25-5) won its first tournament game since defeating Oklahoma in 1995, and advanced to play either Wake Forest or Virginia Commonwealth in the second round of the East Rutherford Regional.
"America is going to look at this game as an upset, but behind closed doors we know it wasn't an upset because we know we can play with anybody on any given night in the country. We just try to keep that behind closed doors. We belong here and that's no fluke," Dave Holmes, Manahattan senior forward said.
Coach Bobby Gonzalez insisted there was no way his Jaspers - who play in 2,500-seat Draddy Gymnasium that's actually in the Bronx - would feel overwhelmed in this, their second straight appearance at the tournament.
They didn't and, in fact, they made Florida (20-11) look out of sorts throughout.
The Gators, ranked first in the country in December, failed to make it out of the first weekend of the tourney for the fourth straight time since they made the national finals in 2000.
They were thought far and wide to be one of the most vulnerable favorites in the opening round and they played the role perfectly, missing open shots, never getting into a flow on offense and letting Manhattan's pesky, pressing defense get into both their minds and their games.
"This game was all about one thing. I can sum it up in one word. Manhattan's competitivenes was much, much better than ours. We did not compete at the level that was necessary to win the game, " Gators coach Billy Donovan said after the game.
Manhattan, meanwhile, acted as if it belonged, and the whole act started with Flores.
Creating, shooting and scoring from everywhere on the floor, the generously listed 6-foot senior showed why he's the nation's third-leading scorer. With the Jaspers ahead 38-35 early in the second half, he sandwiched two 3-pointers around a sweet, pull-up 16-footer to push the lead to double digits.
Florida tried to get back in it, but when Matt Walsh got called for an intentional foul - a questionable call on a hard shot on Mike Konovelchick in which Walsh actually blocked the layup attempt - the Jaspers started an 11-4 run to put the game away. It was capped by Flores' beautiful spin move on the baseline that left him open for a 15-foot jumper he made.
"If it was as easy as just deciding to get back into it, we would have done it. The first couple of minutes of the second half was the only time we really competed, " said Florida guard Matt Walsh.
But Flores was hardly Manhattan's only star. Peter Mulligan finished with 17 points and Dave Holmes had 12 points and 12 rebounds. That pair of undersized forwards easily dominated the inside matchup Florida thought it could win.
Florida's best inside player, David Lee, was barely a factor with seven points. The Gators tried to work inside to 6-9 Adrian Moss, but he went 2-for-8.
The picture of Florida's futility was best told during Flores' hot streak early in the second half: Walsh shot an airball on an open 3-pointer, Moss shot an airball from the post and on Florida's next possession, Moss got called for a charge after driving his shoulder into the defender.
Walsh finished with 13 points. Anthony Roberson led the Gators with 22 points, but most came after the game was out of reach and Billy Donovan's team was guaranteed of falling to 2-4 in the tournament over the last four seasons.
- Times staff writer Antonya English contributed to this report
