Box Score WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Entering the game as the hottest team in the Freedom Conference, the Manhattanville men's basketball team was brought back down to earth on Saturday afternoon by Wilkes, as the Colonels dealt the Valiants a 98-75 defeat in a key conference matchup on Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center.
 
Manhattanville (10-11, 6-4 Freedom) had won four games in a row and was tied for first place in the conference entering Saturday. Luckily, two of the teams tied with Manhattanville also lost today, meaning that now the Valiants are stuck in a four-way tie for second place with Misericordia, Delaware Valley and FDU-Florham, one game behind frontrunner DeSales with four games to go.
 
Steve Stravinski led Wilkes (8-12, 3-7 Freedom) with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting, while Alec Wizar added 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Senior Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) netted a game-high 23 points for Manhattanville, and he was followed in double figures by classmate Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) with 13 points and freshman Andrew Murray (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) with a season-high 12 points.
 
The Valiants never really had a chance to get into the game against a Wilkes squad that shot a blistering 56.9 percent (33 for 58) from the field and out-rebounded the visitors by a 48-26 margin. The Colonels scored the first eight points of the game and continued to pour on the offense, jumping out to a 26-6 lead at the midway point of the opening half. Stravinski personally outscored the Valiant team 13-6 during the run.
 
Manhattanville cut the deficit to 12 on two occasions late in the first half on a pair of free throws by sophomore Andrew Winter (Queens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and a layup by Campbell, but Stravinski kept the three-pointers coming and as a result Wilkes held a 52-33 lead at the break. Wilkes as a team shot 69.0 percent (20 of 29) over the first 20 minutes, with Stravinski scoring 19 points alone on 6-of-9 shooting.
 
The deficit never shrunk below 14 points in the second half after five straight points by Campbell to start the second half. Murray and sophomore Darius Christmas (Hackensack, N.J./Paramus Catholic) combined to score Manhattanville's final 13 points of the game over the final 4:15, with Murray scoring 10 of his season-high 12 down the stretch.
 
Manhattanville finished the game shooting 39.3 percent (22 of 56) from the field, and actually shot better from beyond the arc (10 of 24) than from in front of it (12 of 32).
 
The Valiants will need to shake off the game quickly, as Manhattanville returns to action on Wednesday night when the team hosts first-place DeSales in a Freedom Conference showdown at Kennedy Gym beginning at 8 p.m.