WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Manhattanville College men's basketball team fell victim to another big second-half run on Saturday, as King's (Pa.) College scored 16 straight points to take control of the game and deal the Valiants a tough 77-63 defeat in a Freedom Conference contest at Scandlon Gym.
 
King's (9-7, 3-3 Freedom) got a big game from Dan Rutecki, who led all players with 24 points (7-9 FG, 10-11 FT) and 17 rebounds. Chris Fazzini and Tim O'Shea added 16 points apiece for the home team.
 
Junior Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) was the top scorer again for Manhattanville (5-12, 1-5 Freedom), scoring 19 points in 7-of-12 shooting. Classmate Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons) chipped in 12 points and senior Wills Flynn (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian) hit 4-of-6 shots from the field to finish with 10 points.
 
The Valiants took good care of the ball on Saturday, turning it over just eight times and posting a 20-10 edge in points off turnovers, but the visitors could not make up for a lack of presence on the glass or at the line. King's dominated on the boards, posting a 47-22 rebounding edge, and also made 22 more trips to the free throw line, resulting in a 24-8 disparity in free throws made.
 
Maestre came out of the gates smoking for Manhattanville, hitting his first five shots and scoring 12 of the team's first 15 points as the Valiants held a 15-13 lead 7:17 into the contest. The Valiant lead grew to nine points (22-13) following layups from Camacho and Flynn sandwiched around a three by sophomore Charles Nardone (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland).
 
Although the visitors maintained their lead for the remainder of the first half, King's was able to cut into the lead and Manhattanville led by just three (34-31) at the break.
 
The Valiants had a 38-35 lead following a Camacho layup 2:01 into the second stanza, but that lead quickly evaporated thanks to a 16-0 Monarch run – the exact same spurt that put Eastern in front on Wednesday night – that put the home team up 51-38 with 12:09 remaining.
 
A jumper from Maestre ended the run with his team's first basket in six minutes, followed by a Camacho three that made it a 51-43 score with 11:06 left. The deficit was cut to eight again on a Flynn trifecta one minute later, but Fazzini scored at the other end and the lead never shrunk below 10 points again.
 
Manhattanville finished the night shooting 40.0 percent (24 for 60) from the field, while King's connected at an even 50.0 percent (26 of 52) clip from the field