The Gaels won their eighth MAAC Championship by outlasting the Jaspers.
SPRINGFIELD – The Iona men's basketball team was built to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last year, but stumbled in the championship semifinals.
A less-talented Gaels team entered this year's MAAC Championship having lost four of seven games and somehow found a way to get it done, beating Manhattan 60-57 on Monday night at the MassMutual Center.
The fourth-seeded Gaels (20-13), who won 20 games for the fourth straight year, are going to their second straight NCAA tournament, having earned the conference's automatic bid.
Upstart Manhattan, seeded No. 6, finished 14-18.
Tre Bowman came off the bench to lead the Gaels with 20 points while Lamont "Momo" Jones added 14.
David Laury, once a prospect for the University of Massachusetts, added 10 points, including a dunk that sealed the fate of the Jaspers.
Michael Alvarado led Manhattan with 14.
The game started at Manhattan's pace, at least in terms of scoring. With more than nine minutes gone, the game was tied 8-8.
It wasn't that the pace was slow, it was that both offenses appeared tight. Manhattan attempted five 3-pointers in its first eight shots, more than a third of its championship average.
Then there were the turnovers. The Jaspers and Gaels combined for 10 of them before nine minutes had been played.
The pace did pick up, especially for the Jaspers, who built a lead as large as six points before settling for a 26-24 halftime edge.
Jones did all he could to help the Gaels keep pace, scoring 10 points, including a buzzer-beating jumper to end the first half.
Both teams shot under 38 percent from the floor, but the biggest number was the 0-for-4 effort on 3-pointers by Iona, one of the more prolific deep-shooting teams in the country.
Sean Armand, one of the nation's best 3-point shooters, only hoisted two shots for the Gaels in 17 first-half minutes.
Iona, the second-highest scoring team in the country, took a backseat to Manhattan's style of play in the first half as the teams defended each other well.
The scoring became a little easier in the second as things loosened up. The sides traded 3-pointers for starters, Armand getting in the act with his first points.
The Jaspers opened a five-point lead when they caught the Gaels in a 4-on-2 break. Shane Richards spotted up in the corner and knocked down the triple for a 35-30 edge.
But Iona responded with a 9-0 run as Armand hit two foul shots, Tre Bowman buried a 3-pointer, Armand scored on a layup and Bowman soared for a putback for a 39-35 advantage after the game's sixth lead change.
Manhattan's RaShawn Stores broke the run with a straight-away jumper, but the Gaels put together an 8-0 run with a little help from Jaspers coach Steve Masiello.
Tavon Sledge and Jones scored back-to-back baskets before Masiello was hit with a technical foul for being out of the coaching box and on the floor, something he had been warned about twice already.
Jones hit both free throws for a 45-37 margin, then Taaj Ridley followed with a pair of foul shots and the Gaels were looking at their largest lead, 47-37 with 8:37 to play.
The Jaspers battled back within four, but an offensive rebound by Sledge gave the ball back to the Gaels with under 30 seconds to play, and they didn't falter.