WESTFIELD, Mass. - The Manhattanville College men's basketball team fell to Elms College by a 63-53 score in the consolation round of the 2014 Rick Martin/Holiday Inn Express Tournament, hosted by Westfield State University on Sunday afternoon at the Woodward Center.
 

Junior Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) led Manhattanville (0-2) with a game-high 14 points, and he was joined in double figures by classmate Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons) with 10 points. Kenny Lockett led a balanced Elms (1-1) attack with 13 points, followed by Tim Putnam and Jerry Buchanon with 11 points each.
 

The Valiants struggled shooting the ball in the first half, but still went into halftime within reach down 32-25. Manhattanville connected on only 8 of 27 attempts (29.6 percent) over the opening 20 minutes, including a rough opening 12 minutes in which the squad shot 2-for-14 and turned the ball over nine times.
 

Helped by the Valiants' difficulties on the offensive end, Elms led by as many as 18 points on a pair of occasions, the last coming on a pair of DaQuian Youngblood free throws that put the Blazers up 24-6 with 7:40 remaining in the half.

The Valiants still trailed by 13 at 30-17 with 2:30 remaining in the half, but Manhattanville closed the half on a 8-2 run thanks to five points from Maestre and a three from senior Wills Flynn (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian) to close the half.

Manhattanville got the lead down to five on three straight possessions early in the second half, the last coming after a Maestre jumper made it a 36-31 game with 16:32 on the clock. However, seven straight points put the Blazers back up by double figures and the Valiants could not get the deficit lower than eight the rest of the way.

The Valiants finished the afternoon shooting 36.2 percent (17 for 47) from the field, while Elms ended the day at 42.6 percent (23 for 54).
 

Manhattanville will host its first game of the 2014-15 season on Wednesday night, as the Valiants host neighboring SUNY Purchase in the annual Battle for Anderson Hill Road at 7 p.m. at Kennedy Gym.