Boxscore

ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The mid-season slump continued for the Manhattanville men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon, as the Valiants were held to just 18.8 percent shooting and made just nine field goals in 40 minutes in suffering a 48-41 setback at Eastern University in a Freedom Conference defensive struggle at the Eastern Gym.

Eastern did not perform much better on the offensive side of the court, but the team's 43.2 percent shooting (19 for 44) was just enough to keep the Valiants at bay throughout the afternoon. Martin Soaries tied for the game-high with a team-leading 12 points on 12 shots, while Alex Nelson was held below his season average but still chipped in eight points and a game-high seven boards.

It was a very tough day for the Valiant offense, as no Manhattanville player made more than three field goals against a tough Eastern defense. Junior Ivan Jovicic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sports HS Belgrade) led the team in scoring off the bench with 12 points, six of which came from the charity stripe, in 18 minutes. Classmate Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) added eight points for the Valiants as well, as 24 of the team's 41 points came from their reserves.

The only thing that kept Manhattanville in the game offensively was its performance at the line, as the Valiants got to the  stripe 22 times and made 19 (86.4 percent). However, free throws could not completely overcome a bad shooting performance.

The Valiants went into halftime down by five points at 28-23, but that wasn't bad considering the visitors shot just 20.0 percent (5 of 25) from the field and Eastern connected at a 50.0 percent (11 for 22) clip in the first half. Soaries led all players with eight points in the first 20 minutes, while Vargas led the Valiants with five points in the frame as five different Manhattanville players had one bucket apiece.

Eastern's biggest lead of the frame was a nine-point edge at 28-19 with 2:05 left, but Manhattanville closed the half with four straight points on a pair of freebies by both junior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) and senior Lamar Glass (Dallas, Texas/Skyline).

The offensive output did not get any better in the second half, as the visitors made just 4 of 23 shots from the field, including 2 of 10 from beyond the arc. After freshman Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) made a pair of buckets early in the period, Manhattanville went more than four minutes without a point and allowed Eastern to open up its biggest lead of the game, 42-27, with 10:46 left in the game.

However, Jovicic single-handedly got the Valiants back into the game soon after, scoring nine straight points in just over a minute. His first three came on a long-range jumper from the corner, but the final six were more impressive as he was fouled on back-to-back three-point attempts and calmly sunk all six freebies to get the visitors back within six at 42-36 with 9:27 remaining.

However, while the Valiant defense did a great job in limiting the offensive chances for Eastern, Manhattanville's offense once again grew stagnant and the visitors scored just five more points the rest of the way. Vargas sunk a three-pointer that got the team within five at 44-39 with 5:44 left, but it was the team's last field goal of the game as it could manage just two free throws by junior Glen Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Miami (Fla.) LaSalle) in the final five minutes.

Manhattanville (11-6, 3-4 Freedom) will look to snap its three-game losing streak on Tuesday night, as the Valiants close out their non-conference schedule at Wesleyan (Conn.) University starting at 7:30 p.m.