Manhattan won its first basketball game; Fordham lost its first two.

Manhattan boasts a returning conference player and coach of the year. Fordham’s roster includes six walk-ons and is led by a new coach whose grandmother passed away two days before his first game.

Manhattan and Fordham met last night at the Jaspers’ Draddy Gym, and no matter the outcome, the two programs continue to sit farther apart than the four miles that separate their campuses.

“Some good things are going to happen this season,” Rams coach Dereck Whittenburg said before the year began. “But we know we’re a long way away. And we’re going to be patient with our players. It’s the only way we can succeed.”

A week into Whittenburg’s first season on Rose Hill, patience is fleeting and success still hasn’t arrived.

The Ram coach missed the opener at Memphis to attend his grandmother’s funeral, leaving associate head coach Ray Martin to watch a 94-64 road loss.

In Albany three nights later, Siena outrebounded the Rams 61-31 en route to a 77-59 victory.

The losses, then, set up a notion that now rules this rivalry – Fordham, of the Atlantic 10, looking toward Manhattan, of the mighty MAAC, for a blueprint to the NCAA Tournament.

“We were a good team last year,” Jasper guard Luis Flores said. “We’ve got more experience this year. It’s definitely our goal to be the best team in the area.”

Flores, last year’s MAAC Player of the Year, carried Manhattan with 26 points in a 72-57 season-opening win Monday night at Columbia.

Flores and friends overwhelmed the Lions with a full-court press that forced 22 turnovers.

Like a year ago, the defense should become a staple of this season’s Jaspers. Coach Bobby Gonzalez, though, refuses to anoint this squad as equal to those MAAC champs.

It’s a comparison Whittenburg wishes he can someday make about his Rams.

“We’re not going to be, in the beginning of the year, where everybody expects us to be,” Gonzalez said. “I think we’re going to be good, but we just haven’t had a lot of time together.”