Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's basketball team honored nine graduating contributors before the game, but the Misericordia tandem of Steve Artzerounian and Ethan Eichhorst helped to spoil the party by combining for 43 points in leading the Cougars to a 77-71 win over the Valiants on Senior Day at Kennedy Gymnasium.
Senior Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) had a good day down low on Senior Day, tying his career high with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, but he could not single-handedly counter the Cougars' potent low-post duo. Eichhorst led all scorers with 23 points and also chipped in five assists and four rebounds, while Artzerounian had 20 points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Fellow seniors Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) and Jeff Ventura (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cypress Bay) also reached double figures for Manhattanville in their final games, as Pointer had 15 points with a team-high six assists while Ventura added 11 points. Pointer finishes his career with 1,511 points, leaving him fifth all-time in scoring at Manhattanville.
The visitors started the game strong, scoring 10 of the first 12 points to jump out to an early lead. After a layup by senior Brian Bertucci (Gibbsboro, N.J./Solebury Prep) made it a 10-4 game with 14:52 left, Eichhorst canned a three-pointer on the subsequent possession and then Cougar lead never shrunk below eight for the remainder of the frame.
The Valiant deficit was still eight in the waning seconds of the half, but Matt Greene nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Cougars up by 11 at 41-30 heading into the break.
The Misericordia lead reached 14 (51-37) four minutes into the second half on a three-pointer by Chris Undersinger, and the lead was still that a few minutes later before the Valiants finally started to climb back into the game with a 9-2 run. Blackmon had four points and sophomore Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) added two to start the run, and after a Brandon Stone layup got the lead back to 10, Pointer came back with a three and Bertucci added a lay-in to make it a 59-54 game with 8:49 remaining.
But the Manhattanville offense then went over four minutes without a point, and that stretch allowed Misericordia to build its lead back to 11 with 2:40 left on back-to-back layups by Eichhorst (from Artzerounian) and Artzerounian (from Eichhorst).
The Valiants would not go away, however, as Pointer converted a tip-in and Ventura nailed a pair of long long-distance threes to suddenly bring the team back within five (71-66) with 41 seconds remaining. But Eichhorst killed any Valiant chances of a late comeback by going 6 for 6 from the line in the final 31 seconds, allowing the Cougars to escape with the victory.
Manhattanville ended the game shooting 43.3 percent (29 for 67) and Misericordia ended up at 49.2 percent (29 for 59). The big difference came on the glass, with the Cougars holding a 41-26 edge on the boards. The visitors also ended the day shooting a perfect 13 of 13 from the line.
Manhattanville finishes its season with a 10-15 (4-10 Freedom) record, with the game marking the end of the collegiate careers of Pointer, Ventura, Blackmon, Bertucci, Jack Railton-Woodcock (Melbourne, Australia/Scotch College), Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian), Ivan Jovicic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sports HS Belgrade) and Kyle McGowan (Old Saybrook, Conn./Old Saybrook). Misericordia (19-6, 11-3) will host FDU-Florham in the Freedom Conference Championship semifinals on Wednesday night.
