Injuries have a way of changing things for any athletic team. Your best player gets hurt, you lose him -- and you struggle.

Manhattan has lost its best player, but not to injury. The Jaspers lost their high scorer and rebounder to an indefinite suspension for academics -- and then went out and lost a game at Rider by 19 points.

Manhattan then won at Fairfield later in the week before edged Siena, 63-58, to end the three-game road trip on Monday night.

The loss of forward C.J. Anderson, who averaged 18.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, wasn't all this team was dealing with. Injuries to two other players left the team thin.

"We are trying to overcome adversity," said guard Jason Wingate. "We don't have C.J.. We don't have (Guy) Ngardni; he broke his thumb. And now we don't know what's going on with Kenny (Minor, injured six minutes into the Fairfield win). Bodies are just going every game, and we are just trying to stay together with what we have and stay positive."

The Jaspers (13-6 overall, 9-2 in the MAAC) are back home for Niagara and Loyola this week.