Box Score MADISON, N.J. – FDU-Florham outscored Manhattanville by 14 points in the second half to overcome a 12-point deficit and defeat the Valiants by a 67-63 score in a Freedom Conference matchup on Wednesday evening at the Ferguson Rec Center.
Senior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) tied for the game high with 17 points to pace the Valiants, in the process surpassing Brian Fink '08 for a spot on the school's all-time top 10 scoring list. Pointer's 1,340 career points are the most by a Valiant since 2004 and leave him just three points behind Mike Failla '82 for ninth place all-time.
Pointer and the rest of the Valiant starting lineup provided almost all the team's scoring on the night, as 59 of the team's 63 points came from the starting five. Sophomore Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) had 16 points and six rebounds for Manhattanville, while senior Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) had the game's only double-double with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
FDU-Florham was likewise led by five players who accounted for all its 67 points, with four reaching double figures. Adam Katz had 17 points despite 5-of-14 shooting to lead the Devils, followed by Ardell Roberts with 16 off the bench and starting forwards Derek Hall (15 points) and Will Green (14 points).
Wednesday's game came down to the final minutes, as the teams were tied on four occasions in the latter portion of the second half before Manhattanville built up a small four-point edge (57-53) with 4:20 left on two Blackmon free throws. The Valiant lead was still three at 61-58 after two more Blackmon points with 2:44 remaining, but the visitors did not hit another field goal the rest of the way.
Green hauled in an offensive rebound and scored to decrease the Valiant lead to just one with 1:46 left, and after a missed shot and a turnover Katz sunk a big jumper from just inside the arc to give FDU a 62-61 lead with 44 ticks left. After another Valiant turnover with 30 seconds left, Manhattanville seemed to catch a break when Trevor Sykes missed one of two from the line, but this time Roberts came up with a huge offensive rebound and then sunk a pair of free throws to give the Devils a 65-61 lead with 20 seconds remaining and allow the home team to escape with the win.
Manhattanville was done in by poor second-half shooting, as the Valiants hit on just 6 of 23 attempts (26.1 percent) in the final 20 minutes to finish at 45.1 percent (23 for 51) for the night. FDU-Florham actually shot worse from the field on the night at 44.9 percent (22 for 49), but a 21-13 free-throw edge for the home team helped them to the win.
Senior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) got the game off to a good start for the visitors with a three-pointer on the first possession of the contest. Manhattanville maintained an advantage for the first nine minutes before a three by Roberts put the home team up for the first time at 19-17. But Manhattanville came back quickly to regain the lead, as jumpers by Bramswig and Blackmon combined to put the visitors back up, 23-22, with 8:15 left.
The Valiants spent the rest of the frame building on their lead, closing the frame with a 10-3 run over the final 4:27 to take a 40-30 lead into the break. Bramswig and senior Jack Railton-Woodcock (Melbourne, Australia/Scotch College) had four points each to help extend the lead, while a Pointer jumper with 45 seconds left provided the halftime margin.
Manhattanville shot the ball very well in the opening frame, connecting at a 60.7 percent (17 of 28) clip from the field and going 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. Pointer had 11 of his points in the first half, while Bramswig went a perfect 4 for 4 from the field and 2 of 2 from the line on the way to 10 first-half points.
Unfortunately for the Valiants, the hot shooting did not continue after the break, allowing the Devils back into the game.
A Bramswig jumper to open the half gave Manhattanville its largest lead of the game at 42-30, but soon after the Devils used 10 straight points to close the margin to just one at 45-44 with 6:48 gone by in the half. The Valiants were able to fend off FDU-Florham for a few more minutes until a three-point play by Green tied the score at 49-all with 8:48 remaining, and the teams remained within four points the rest of the way.
Manhattanville (7-7, 1-2 Freedom) will return to action on Saturday, as the Valiants host Wilkes as part of Winter Alumni Day beginning at 3 p.m. at Kennedy Gym. FDU-Florham (7-7, 2-1 Freedom) will host Misericordia also on Saturday at 3 p.m.
