PURCHASE, N.Y. – In a game that featured 12 ties and 19 lead changes, the Manhattanville College men's basketball team came up a few key plays short in a tough 73-69 loss to Wilkes University in Freedom Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Kennedy Gymnasium.
 
The loss is a big blow to the playoff hopes of Manhattanville (6-13, 2-6 Freedom), which drops three games behind fourth-place Wilkes (10-9, 5-3 Freedom) with six games to go and also loses the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Colonels as well.
 
The Valiants received solid production from its starting five, led by a solid all-around game from junior Andrew Winter (Queens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) with a team- and career-high 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. Classmate Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) added 11 points, five boards, three assists and three steals, while fellow junior Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons) just missed his second double-double of the year with 10 points and nine caroms.
 
Tyler Jackson paced the Colonels with a game-high 18 points, followed by Alec Wizar with 15 points and five rebounds. Zachary Brunner chipped in 10 points and Jeremy Hartman added eight points and eight rebounds as well for the visitors.
 
The first 20 minutes of play were a see-saw battle between the two squads, with seven ties and 14 lead changes keeping the game very interesting. The lead on either side never grew higher than five points, which came after a Wizar three gave the Colonels an 18-13 lead with 10:09 left. Seven straight Valiant points put the home team back again, and the teams continued to pass the lead back and forth until a three-point play by Maestre put Manhattanville up 39-38 at the break.
 
Wilkes was kept in the game by its 57.7 percent (15 of 26) shooting in the opening half, while Manhattanville shot 48.5 percent (16 for 33) and also posted an 11-2 edge in points off turnovers.
 
Manhattanville began to establish some offensive rhythm to start the second half, with Winter scoring six points as part of a 10-2 run that gave the home team a 53-45 lead with 14:38 remaining. The home team built its lead back up to eight again with 9:48 left, when Maestre had a steal and a score to make the score 60-52.
 
Wilkes got right back into the game with an 11-2 run, capped by a three-point play from Brunner that put the visitors ahead 63-62 with 6:11 on the clock. It remained a one-possession contest for the next five minutes, with senior Wills Flynn (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian) putting Manhattanville back up one at 69-68 with a nice running layup at the one-minute mark.
 
Cameron Hinkel came up big for Wilkes on the next possession with a layup of his own, putting the visitors up one with 43 ticks left. After a turnover and Wizar hitting one of two at the line, the Valiants could not convert with under 10 seconds left, and Hinkel sunk two big free throws to clinch the win for the visitors.
 
Free throw shooting was the story on both sides of the court, as Wilkes clinched the win with 12-of-16 shooting (75.0 percent) from the line while Manhattanville hit only 10 of 23 attempts (43.5 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
Manhattanville will look to start a late-season run on Wednesday night, as the Valiants look to avenge an earlier loss to Delaware Valley in Doylestown beginning at 8 p.m.