Boxscore

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Down by 16 points in the second half, the Manhattanville men's basketball team impressively battled back to take a lead late but could not hold on in suffering a tough-to-swallow 70-65 loss to DeSales University in an important Freedom Conference matchup on Thursday night at Billera Hall.

Manhattanville (12-8, 4-5 Freedom) falls into a three-way tie for fifth place in the Freedom Conference with the defeat, while DeSales (15-5, 6-3 Freedom) moves up into a tie for first place when combined with Delaware Valley's loss at FDU-Florham.

Brett Moyer led all players with 16 points and 10 rebounds for DeSales, as he was one of four Bulldogs in double figures. Bob Zanneo also provided a punch off the bench with 14 points in 21 minutes, while Brian Hunter overcame a rough shooting night (3 for 12) to finish with 11 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds and four steals.

Junior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) had a team-high 14 points for Manhattanville. Classmate Glen Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Miami (Fla.) LaSalle) added 10 points and a team-leading six rebounds, and senior Peter Mehmel (Queens, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) also reached double figures with 10 points as well.

DeSales was the aggressor for much of the first half, using 68.0 percent (17 for 25) shooting to take an early lead. Despite the hot opposition, Manhattanville was down just three at 22-19 after a three-point play by junior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline), but the Bulldogs used a 16-6 run late in the frame to open up a 14-point lead (43-29) at the half. Moyer went a perfect 6 of 6 from the field in the opening 20 minutes on the way to a game-best 12 points.

After going into halftime with a 14-point lead, DeSales looked to be in firm control of the game early in the second half, building its lead up to as many as 16 (52-36) on a Moyer layup with 15:25 left. But Manhattanville would not die easily, going on a 12-2 run over nearly five minutes that got the Valiants back within six points at 54-48 with 10:43 left in the second half. Vargas got the run started with five straight points as part of a 7-0 mini-run, and a Mehmel bucket and a three by junior Ivan Jovicic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sports HS Belgrade) helped get the visitors closer.

Still down by six at 59-53, Rodriguez drained a jumper to get the visitors within four points. After a three-pointer by Hunter, Manhattanville responded with six straight points from Rodriguez, Vargas and senior Lamar Glass (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) to get back within one point before a Pointer layup put the Valiants atop by one (63-62) with four minutes remaining, completing a tremendous comeback for the visitors.

But the Valiants then had to defend that lead, still holding a one-point advantage (65-64) with 3:32 left on a basket by Mehmel. However, Hunter sank another jumper to put DeSales back on top by a point and, while the Valiants kept their opponents without a field goal the rest of the way, the visitors also could not find the net for the rest of the game.

A pair of missed free throws by Hunter still left the door open for Manhattanville down just three with 24 seconds remaining, but an ill-timed turnover and subsequent foul gave DeSales two more free throws that clinched the game with 13 seconds on the clock.

Despite shooting 46.4 percent (13 for 28) in the second half, Manhattanville still shot just 39.1 percent (25 for 64) on the evening. DeSales cooled off considerably in the second half (34.8 percent), yet still made as many field goals as the Valiants on the night despite taking 16 fewer shots (25 for 48).

Manhattanville will return home to Kennedy Gym on Saturday, when the Valiants face off with Wilkes University in yet another very important Freedom Conference clash starting at 3 p.m. DeSales will travel to Delaware Valley in a battle for first place on Saturday at 3 p.m.