DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Manhattanville College men's basketball team came up one point short in its upset bid against Delaware Valley University on Wednesday night, as the Valiants fell to the Aggies by a 66-65 score in a MAC Freedom defensive struggle at James Work Gymnasium.
 
Junior Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) tied for the game-high with 24 points and also corralled a team-high nine rebounds and blocked three shots for Manhattanville (6-10, 2-3 MAC Freedom). Freshman JoJo Cobbs (Elmsford, N.Y./Briarcliff) was the only other Valiant in double figures with 11 points, while classmate Dwayne Frazier (Miami, Fla./The Sagemont School) added eight points and six boards off the bench.
 
Delaware Valley (9-7, 4-1 MAC Freedom) was led by Alex Matsinye, who matched Tuci with a game-high 24 points and added 10 rebounds, and Tyrea Williams, who posted the game's only double-double with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Manhattanville used a pair of runs to stay in the game during the opening half. An 11-2 stretch that featured a team-best four points from Frazier put the Valiants up 15-11 with 9:05 left in the stanza, while a streak of seven straight points – including a three-point play from junior Brian Haggerty (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) to end the first half and a three from classmate Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) to start the second – gave the Valiants their biggest lead of the night at 30-25 1:05 into the second half.
 
The Valiants grabbed their last lead of the game with 7:00 left on the clock, when Tuci sunk four straight free throws after a foul and a technical foul on the Aggies to put the visitors up 48-46. But Delaware Valley responded with the next eight points over a span of 2:23, with Matsinye scoring six in a row and Williams adding a layup to give the home team a 54-48 lead with 4:26 remaining.
 
Matsinye then scored DelVal's final nine points of the game as well to single-handedly keep the Valiants from getting any closer than four points. Tuci scored Manhattanville's final eight points of the game, including a three from half-court at the buzzer that only managed to get the visitors within one at the final horn.
 
Neither team shot the ball particularly well on the evening, as Manhattanville finished at 38.6 percent (22 of 57) from the field and Delaware Valley ended the night at 38.5 percent (20 of 52). The Aggies managed to take 11 more free throws than the Valiants, however, hitting 22-of-31 compared to the visitors' 14-of-20 mark.
 
Manhattanville will hope to continue the pattern of alternating wins and losses in conference play on Saturday, when the Valiants host Eastern University in an Alumni Day matchup beginning at 3 p.m.