Manhattan ousts St. Peter's 72-58

Mar 8, 2014, 11:56 pm

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Rhamel Brown scored 18 points, 11 after halftime, and Michael Alvarado added 17 as second-seeded Manhattan broke away from seventh-seeded St. Peter's 72-58 in a Metro Athletic Association quarterfinal Saturday night.

The Jaspers (23-7) advance to play Quinnipiac (20-10) in Sunday's semifinal. Manhattan has reached the MAAC semis for the second straight year.

Manhattan, winners of nine of its last 10 games, battled through a close contest with the Peacocks (14-17) with five ties and eight lead changes until Brown found space inside for three straight buckets. The burst helped Manhattan break from 44-43 to 54-48 in about 4 minutes.

St. Peter's Chris Burke hit a 3-pointer to come as close as 58-52, but Manhattan finished on a 14-6 clip.

Alvarado scored 13 points at the free throw line as the Jaspers sank 29 of 42 attempts. Manhattan owned a 33-27 rebounding edge, with Brown collecting 10.

Marvin Dominique scored 14 for St. Peter's.