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HONOLULU, HI \u2013 The Manhattan Jaspers Men’s Basketball team (2-1) opened the OUTRIGGER Rainbow Classic with a victory over the Trail Blazers of Utah Tech (2-3) by a score of 79-75 inside Bankoh Arena at Stan Sherriff Center on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
HOW IT HAPPENED<\/p>\n
STATS AND NOTES<\/p>\n
QUOTES FROM THE JASPERS<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Jaspers opened their second-ever game in program history in the Aloha State against the Trail Blazers for their inaugural meeting.
\n\tBack-and-forth missed shots for both Utah Tech and Manhattan eventually came to a halt when sophomore guard Erik Oliver-Bush<\/a> opened the scoring with a driving layup.
\n\tAfter trailing by one, nearly ten minutes into the contest, the Jaspers jumped back in front courtesy of a Quron Elliott<\/a> driving layup to move the deficit to just one.
\n\tOff the bench was Anthony Isaac<\/a> for the Green and White. After missing a triple, Oliver-Bush grabbed the offensive carom and followed up with a booming dunk to give the Jaspers a three-point edge.
\n\tThe Jaspers began pulling away after drawing three shooting fouls, capitalizing on all shots from the charity stripe.
\n\tWith a game-high six-point advantage, the Trail Blazers began their comeback before a bad pass from Oliver Bush led to a fast break bucket for Utah Tech to tie the game at 30.
\n\tIn the second half, the Jaspers responded the way it was supposed to with nine consecutive points behind Fraser Roxburgh<\/a> and Jaden Winston’s<\/a> back-to-back three pointers.
\n\tAfter the Jaspers committed a foul, it was Roxburgh, again, who sank home a booming triple to give the Green and White its largest lead of the day at seven.
\n\tThe reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Devin Dinkins<\/a>, pushed the pace with a towering three-pointer to extend the lead to double-digits for the first time in the contest.
\n\tContinuing his career day, Roxburgh capitalized on a lost ball turnover from Utah Tech to add another two points to his ledger on the day.
\n\tAfter leading by as much as 14, the Trail Blazers made things quite interesting before Jaden Winston<\/a> quieted the crowd with a commanding triple, before Roxburgh did the same to give the Jaspers a five-point margin once again.
\n\tThe Jaspers kept things close, but closing it out was Fraser Roxburgh<\/a>, again, who netted points 18 and 19 with just 1:45 left to give enough breathing room to secure its first victory of the season.
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\n\tRedshirt Junior guard Devin Dinkins<\/a> paced the Jaspers with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor, which included eight-of-nine from the charity stripe in a full 40 minutes of game action.
\n\tSophomore forward Fraser Roxburgh<\/a> set a new career high with 19 points on the evening, on eight-of-17 from the floor. The Australian native also grabbed eight rebounds in 35 minutes.
\n\tJunior guard Jaden Winston<\/a> logged 15 points after posting a career high in Los Angeles 72 hours prior, going 5-for-9 from the floor, including a pair of triples.
\n\tSophomore guard Erik Oliver-Bush<\/a> grabbed two rebounds and was a perfect three-of-three from the field in 26 minutes.
\n\tManhattan notched its best free-throw percentage of the season by converting 17-of-20 for an 85% clip on the night.
\n\tThe Jaspers won the defensive rebound battle 24-18, while adding 16 bench points compared to Utah Tech’s 12. The Green and White also swatted away five blocks as a team, highlighted by Erik Oliver-Bush’s<\/a> three on the night.
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