ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - The Manhattanville College men's basketball team had its chances for a postseason berth take a minor hit on Saturday afternoon, as the Valiants could not slow down a hot-shooting Eastern University squad in a 101-74 defeat in MAC Freedom action at Eagles Gym.
Manhattanville (13-10, 6-6 MAC Freedom) drops into a fourth-place tie with Wilkes University with two games remaining in the conference schedule, one game back of Misericordia University for third place. Eastern (11-12, 5-7 MAC Freedom) and King's (Pa.) College sit just one game back of the Valiants and Colonels, with seven teams still alive for postseason berths headed into the final week of the regular season.
The Valiants had no answers for the Eagles defensively on the afternoon, allowing Eastern to shoot 54.9 percent (39 for 71) from the field and a stellar 48.0 percent (12 of 25) from beyond the arc. Manhattanville, meanwhile, was limited to 39.7 percent (25 for 63) shooting from the field on the day.
Junior
Charles Nardone (Stony Point, N.Y./North Rockland) led the Valiants with 13 points in 22 minutes, followed by sophomore
Victor Troya (Miami, Fla./Miami Springs Senior) off the bench with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting in just seven minutes of action. Freshman
Javin Barton (Queens, N.Y./St. Mary's) also reached double figures with 10 points in 16 minutes of play.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead on Saturday, scoring the first six points of the game and never letting the visitors get into any sort of offensive groove. Manhattanville was unable to string together back-to-back baskets throughout the first half and well into the second, with the first occasion coming with a jumper and a layup from sophomores
Chris Ayson (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) and
Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman), respectively, with 6:48 to go in the game.
Eastern also did not use a prolific scoring stretches to pull out the win, just a steady diet of made shots that Manhattanville could not keep up with. A layup by Nardone made the score 27-19 in favor of the Eagles with 6:10 left in the first half, but the Eagles followed with a 12:43 stretch in which the home team hit 14-of-18 shots from the field and 8-of-8 from the line that expanded the lead to 32 points (66-34) with 13:27 to go in the second half.
The visitors had four straight baskets in the final minutes as part of a game-ending 11-0 run, but by that point the game had long been decided.
Manhattanville will look to get back on the winning track on Tuesday night, when the team hosts first-place DeSales University for an 8 p.m. tipoff at Kennedy Gym.
