Box Score DALLAS, Pa. – Junior forward Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) led the Valiants with 18 points and 11 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the year, but it was not enough as the Manhattanville men's basketball team concluded the season with a 75-70 loss to Misericordia in Freedom Conference action on Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Center.
 
Freshman Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Bramswig with his 18 on 8-of-14 shooting. Junior Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) added 18 points as well and graduate student Craig Augustine (Citrus, Fla./Citrus) chipped in 12 points in his final collegiate game.
 
Steve Ware led the Cougars with 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, followed in double figures by Ranell Bell and Justin Grotevant with 10 points apiece.
 
The Valiants looked to be in trouble down by 10 (68-58) with 2:04 remaining, but the Valiants did not go away. A pair of Maestre free throws and one by freshman Andrew Winter (Queens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) got the deficit down to seven with 1:45 left, and a quick Campbell jumper followed by a Bramswig steal that led to two Maestre free throws suddenly made it a one-possession game at 68-65 with 59 seconds remaining.
 
A Maestre steal on the next possession gave the Valiants back the ball with a chance to tie, but Grotevant had a steal of his own to regain possession and two Joe Busacca free throws increased the Cougars' lead to five with 42 ticks left.
 
After two missed possessions, Campbell hit two shots from the line to make it 71-66 Cougars with 16 seconds remaining, but two free throws by Jesse Urich and Anthony Sergio sandwiched around a late Campbell three were enough to secure the win for Misericordia.
 
Misericordia hit 48.2 percent (27 for 56) of its shots for the afternoon, while Manhattanville connected at only a 37.7 percent (23 for 61) clip from the field. The Valiants forced the issue by getting to the charity stripe 35 times, but shot just 60.0 percent (21 for 35) from the line.
 
Down by three points less than a minute into the second half, the Valiants saw Misericordia go on an 11-2 run to open up a 44-32 lead with 15:23 remaining. The Cougar lead remained in double figures for most of the next eight minutes, reaching a high of 17 (60-43) with 8:43 to go on a three-point play by Cael Evans.
 
But Manhattanville came storming back, rattling off 12 straight points to make it a 60-55 game with 4:38 on the clock. The trio of Maestre (five points), Bramswig (four) and Campbell (three) helped the visitors get back into the game with the run, which also featured six missed MU shots and a pair of Cougar turnovers.
 
However, Misericordia scored eight of the next 11 points to build its lead back up with 10 with just over two minutes remaining, and the late Valiant push came up a little bit short.
 
Bramswig finishes the season with 289 rebounds, trailing only John Danielski '04, who pulled down a program-record 329 in 2003-04, in both total rebounds and rebounds per game (11.6 rpg). In addition, his 36 blocks this year are also fifth on the school's single-season list.
 
Manhattanville finishes the 2012-13 season with a 10-15 (4-10 Freedom) record, but is set to return all but one player next season as the Valiants look to break their drought and return to the conference postseason.