Manhattan beats St. Peter's 65-48 in MAAC semifinals

Mar 8, 2015, 10:01 pm

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Shane Richards had 14 points and No. 3 seed Manhattan pulled away from seventh-seeded St. Peter's 65-48 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament semifinals on Sunday.

Zane Waterman and Ashton Pankey added 10 points each for Manhattan (18-13), which led the entire way after the early minutes.

The Jaspers will square off with No. 1 seed Iona for the third straight year in the championship on Monday. Iona won in 2013 and Manhattan last year. The Gaels took both meetings during the 2014-15 regular season.

St. Peter's (16-18) closed to within seven points with 5:26 left, but Manhattan outscored the Peacocks 19-9 from there with a 7-0 run to close the game.

Richards scored back-to-back with a three-point play and 3-pointer to cap a 10-2 run that put the Jaspers up 33-23 at halftime.

Marvin Dominique had 13 points and Tyler Gaskins scored 12 to lead St. Peter's.