Box Score WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Kendall Hinze led Wilkes with 18 points and the Colonels fended off a pair of late Manhattanville rallies in posting a 64-58 victory over the Valiants in a key Freedom Conference men's basketball matchup on Saturday afternoon.

The loss keeps Manhattanville (10-11, 4-6 Freedom)  on the outside of the playoff picture looking in with four games still to go, as the Valiants currently sit in sixth place, a game behind DeSales and FDU-Florham in fourth place. Wilkes (14-6, 7-3 Freedom) snaps a three-game losing streak with the win and moves into a three-way tie for first place.

Hinze led all scorers with 18 points and also added eight rebounds for the home team, while teammate Paul Huch had the game's only double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Tyler Breznitsky also reached double figures with 11 for the Colonels.

Sophomore Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) was the Valiants' top scorer on the day, hitting 7 of 12 shots to finish with 14 points and also tying senior Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) for the team lead in rebounds with seven. Senior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) also had a nice game off the bench for the visitors, connecting on five of his eight shots to finish with 13 points.

Senior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) also continued his climb up the Valiant scoring record books on Saturday, scoring 11 points to surpass Gil Amoro '80 for possession of seventh place on the all-time scoring list. Next up for Pointer, who now has 1,444 points in his career, is Vic Scipioni '92, who currently is three points ahead of the Valiant senior in the sixth spot.

If you went purely by the shooting statistics, Manhattanville came away looking good on Saturday, as the Valiants hit 25 of 60 shots (41.7 percent) from the field on the afternoon while Wilkes could only hit at a 31.6 percent (18 for 57) clip. But the difference was made up at the free throw line, where the Colonels went 21 for 29 while the Valiants went just 5 for 8.

The game did not start out auspiciously for Manhattanville, as Wilkes won the opening tip and then grabbed four offensive rebounds before a three-pointer from Jeremy Hartman opened the scoring for the Colonels. Wilkes jumped out to an 11-4 lead to start the day, as the Valiant missed on 10 of their first 12 shots from the field.

But the Valiants soon found their stroke offensively, going on a 13-0 run to take a 17-11 lead with 7:08 left in the half. Blackmon had seven of the team's 13 points during the stretch, which was capped by a three-pointer from Pointer.

However, it was then Wilkes' turn to get back in front, scoring 12 straight points to regain the lead by a 23-17 score with 3:36 remaining in the half. The two teams then traded baskets the rest of the frame, and the Colonels went into the break with a 27-23 lead.

The second-half frustrations continued for the Valiants on the day, as Manhattanville got within one possession on multiple occasions but could never get the elusive bucket to regain the lead. After Wilkes had built up a 10-point lead early in the half, the Valiants went on an 11-3 run to get back within two on a layup by Bramswig with 11:57 left.

The Colonels maintained their lead by a slight margin, alternating between two or three possessions before a quick 6-0 run by the Valiants – thanks to two Bramswig buckets and one by Vargas – got the visitors back within a single point at 53-52 with 3:59 left.

A layup by Pointer made it a 57-54 lead with 1:26 left and the Valiants went into foul mode, but the Colonels hit seven of their eight attempts from the charity stripe down the stretch to hold on. Despite shooting 1 of 11 from the field, Wilson nailed down the game with four freebies in the final 13 seconds to earn the win.

Manhattanville will return home to Kennedy Gym on Wednesday, as the Valiants host DeSales at 8 p.m. in a matchup that will be video streamed live on GoValiants.TV. Wilkes will travel to FDU-Florham for an 8 p.m. contest on Wednesday.