Manhattan Jaspers at Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers holds off Manhattan 63-55 in Holiday Festival at MSG

For Steve Masiello, it was a blight.

One game, two points of view.

Kadeem Jack scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Rutgers to a 63-55 win over Manhattan in the first game of the ECAC Holiday Festival.

"My teammates kept telling to keep at it, it will come," Jack said. "Today it (came)."

Junior Etou added 16 points and eight rebounds for Rutgers (6-4). Emmy Andujar led Manhattan (2-6) with 21 points and nine rebounds which matched his season high. Ashton Pankey chipped in with 10 for the Jaspers, who have lost four of their last six.

"It wasn't the best offensive game, it wasn't the prettiest game," Masiello said. "We came out flat. Our first half play was un-Manhattan-like."

Rutgers finished 19 of 41 from the field, including 2 of 6 from 3 and 23 of 25 from the foul line. Manhattan shot 38.8 percent from the field, 7.1 percent from 3 and made 16 of 24 from the line.

Following Pankey's missed layup, the Jaspers outscored Rutgers 13-8 in a nearly eight-minute span to shave the deficit to 52-50. That was as close as Manhattan would get.

"We were resilient enough to keep the lead and win down the stretch," Jordan said.

The Scarlet Knights shot 59.1 percent from the field in the first half and enjoyed a 35-25 lead at the break. Manhattan only made 9 of 23 shots before halftime and missed 6 of 7 3-point attempts.

Rutgers committed a season-high 21 turnovers, but had a 35-23 advantage on the boards.

"We expected traps and pressure," Jordan said. "It wasn't pretty, lots of turnovers."

---

TIP INS

Manhattan: Sunday's game was the Jaspers' first at Madison Square Garden since Jan. 24, 2009.

Rutgers: Senior guard Myles Mack entered the game leading the Big 10 in steals with an average of 2.89 per game. He recorded one steal in 38 minutes against Manhattan.

QUOTABLE

"We don't need to get respect. We're going to take it." --Kadeem Jack on Rutgers entering the game as an underdog to Manhattan.

UP NEXT

Manhattan visits Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Rutgers hosts St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday.

How can I watch Manhattan vs. Rutgers?

• TV Channel: Manhattan at Rutgers 2021 College Basketball, week 5, is broadcasted on .
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo Free trial.
  Try Vidgo for free.