Boxscore

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Wilkes guard Chris DeRojas led all scorers with 28 points and Manhattanville had another tough day shooting the ball as Wilkes left Kennedy Gymnasium with a 66-47 victory over the Valiants in Freedom Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.

DeRojas and Paul Huch combined to almost single-handedly outscore the Valiants on the day, as the pair netted 44 points between the two of them. DeRojas had 28 on 9-of-19 shooting and also added four assists, four steals and four assists, while Huch had 16 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for the visitors.

Only one Valiant reached double figures in scoring, as junior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) led the team with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Senior Peter Mehmel (Queens, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) led the team with nine rebounds.

Manhattanville as a team shot just 30.8 percent (16 for 52) from the field on the afternoon, including a 5 for 21 effort in the first half that put the home team behind early. Wilkes was not stellar offensively, shooting 46.0 percent (23 for 50) from the field, but also connected on 18 of 21 shots (85.7 percent) from the line to pick up the win.

Wilkes scored the first bucket of the game on a jumper by Matt Mullins off the opening tip, and it turned out to be the only lead change of the entire contest. Nevertheless, Manhattanville never fell behind by more than two possessions in the first 14 minutes as the home team kept with the Colonels.

But while the Valiant defense kept Wilkes' offense to minimum effectiveness, the Manhattanville offense went cold to end the half. The home team made just one field goal in the final nine minutes of the opening stanza, as Wilkes extended a 17-12 lead into a 31-15 advantage at the half. Five different Colonels had at least one point during the run, led by seven from Tyler Breznitsky off the bench.

DeRojas led all scorers with nine points at the intermission, while Vargas was the only Valiant to hit more than one shot and finished with five points. Wilkes shot 44.4 percent (12 for 27) while Manhattanville hit on just 23.8 percent (5 for 21) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

Junior Glen Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Miami (Fla.) LaSalle) tried the get the home crowd going by scoring the first four points of the second half, getting the Valiants back within 12 at 31-19, but DeRojas came back with seven straight points and Huch added a three-point play as well to immediately extend the Colonel lead to a game-high 22 at 41-19 with 16:13 left in the second half.

Manhattanville tried to get the game back into a manageable range, but the Valiants could get no closer than 13 points (57-44) on a three-pointer by junior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) with 3:26 remaining.

Manhattanville (12-9, 4-6 Freedom), which now sits in a tie for sixth place in the Freedom Conference with four games to go, will go on the road to take on FDU-Florham on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Fans can follow all the action with live audio on WMVL 88.1 FM starting at approximately 7:55 p.m.