MIAMI, Fla. – The Manhattanville College men's basketball team dropped an 78-63 contest to Gwynedd Mercy University in the Valiants' second and final game at the 2016 HoopMIA D3 Holiday Shootout, held on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Junior Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) led four Manhattanville (3-6) players in double figures with 17 points and a team-best five rebounds, followed by senior Charles Nardone (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) with 13 points. Sophomore Willie Britton (Queens, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) added 12 points and three assists, and freshman Dwayne Frazier (Miami, Fla./The Sagemont School) reached double figures for the second straight game with 10 points in 17 minutes off the bench.
 
Gwynedd Mercy (7-2) was paced by Cedric Elleby, who netted a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds, and Rip Engel, who scored 18 points to go with four boards and four assists.

A free throw by junior Brian Haggerty (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and a Tuci layup gave the Valiants an early 3-0 lead, but the Griffins came back with 10 straight points and an extended 18-4 run that put the team up 18-7 with 11:30 left in the opening half. GMU extended its lead to as many as 18 points in the final minute before two Frazier free throws made it a 16-point deficit after 20 minutes.

Gwynedd Mercy went into the half with a 40-24 lead, thanks in large part to a 26-8 scoring edge in the paint while also converting nine Valiant turnovers into 11 points at the other end. Tuci and Frazier led the Valiants with eight points and three rebounds each in the first half.
 
A 21-8 run put Gwynedd Mercy up by 27 (68-41) with 9:31 remaining, but Manhattanville did not quit. Seven straight points from Tuci followed by a layup and two free throws from junior Victor Troya (Miami, Fla./Miami Springs Senior) shaved the deficit down to 16 with 6:52 left. The Griffin advantage fell to 13 in the final minutes, but the big deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
 
Manhattanville shot the ball better in the second half, hitting 15 of its 26 shots from the field (57.7 percent percent) to finish the game at 46.8 percent (22 of 47), compared to 42.4 percent (27 of 64) for Gwynedd Mercy. However, the Valiants were done in by the Griffins' 45-32 edge on the glass and a 24-13 advantage in second-chance points.
 
After a break for the holidays, Manhattanville will wrap up 2016 at the Trinity (Conn.) College Holiday Invitational on December 30-31, beginning with a first-round matchup against Eastern Connecticut State University on the 30th at 7 p.m.