MADISON, N.J. – FDU-Florham started the game strong and the Manhattanville men's basketball team could never fully recover over the next 35 minutes as the Devils dealt the Valiants' postseason hopes a severe blow with a 52-45 defeat on Wednesday night at the Ferguson Recreational Center.

The loss puts a big hitch into the Valiants' postseason plans, as Manhattanville (12-10, 4-7 Freedom) remains in a tie for sixth place in the Freedom Conference and currently sits two games out of a three-way tie for third place with three conference games remaining. The Valiants will have to win their final three games of the regular season and also receive some help in order to finish in the top-four and qualify for the Freedom Conference Tournament.

Neither team shot the ball well on the night, as FDU-Florham connected on just 34.9 percent (15 of 43) of its shots and Manhattanville was no better at 30.9 percent (17 of 55). The big difference in the game came at the free-throw line, as the Devils got to the stripe 32 times and made 19 while the Valiants went just 9 of 19 from the line.

FDU's Adam Katz led all scorers with 16 points, one more than the Valiants' top scorer, junior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) with 15. Pointer also had a team-high seven rebounds and three assists, while classmate Glen Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Miami (Fla.) LaSalle) added nine points and seven boards as well.

FDU-Florham came out of the gates strong against Manhattanville, scoring 11 of the game's first 13 points to take an early lead. Seven straight Valiant points got the deficit down to two for the first of three straight possessions, and the visitors finally evened the score (16-16) on a three from junior Ivan Jovicic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sports HS Belgrade) with 7:03 remaining in the frame.

However, the Devils never relinquished their lead and went into halftime with a three-point edge at 29-26. Pointer had eight points to lead the Valiant offensive attack, while Katz and Will Green had nine apiece for the home team at the break.

Manhattanville came out ice cold to begin the second half, as the Valiants missed their first 10 shots from the field and turned the ball over four times. Amazingly, three free throws and some stingy play on the defensive end (2 of 10 shooting, six forced turnovers) allowed the visitors to somehow stay in the game, as the Valiants were down by just three (34-31) after a layup by Rodriguez finally broke the streak with 10:09 left.

The Valiants got the deficit down to two points on a pair of occasions, the last coming after a three-pointer by junior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) made the score 41-39 with 5:16 left. However, Katz came down the court and nailed back-to-back huge three-pointers, which immediately bumped the Devil lead back up to eight (47-39) with 3:44 left.

A layup by Pointer got Manhattanville back within four at 49-45 with 34 seconds remaining, but after Joe Missale went 1 of 2 from the line for FDU, the Valiants turned the ball over on their next possession. Two subsequent free throws by Missale with 12 seconds left sealed the victory for the Devils.

Manhattanville will look to start a miracle run to the postseason on Saturday, when the Valiants host equally desperate Eastern University in a Freedom Conference matchup starting at 3 p.m. at Kennedy Gym. Fans can catch all the action live on GoValiants.TV starting at approximately 2:50 p.m.