HUNTINGDON, Pa. – Juniata College, among the top-five teams receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com Div. III National Poll, shot a blistering 64.7 percent from the field to deal the Manhattanville College men's basketball team a 96-54 defeat in the championship game of the Juniata Holiday Tournament on Friday at Memorial Gym.
 
Juniata (11-0) remained unbeaten on the year behind a stellar shooting performance, as the home team hit 33 of 51 field-goal attempts, including a 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) effort from behind the arc. Seth Brewer led four Eagles in double figures with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting to go with six assists, while Marcus Lee hit all seven of his shots on the way to 17 points.
 
Manhattanville (5-4), meanwhile, struggled to find the basket after a good shooting day yesterday, hitting 16 of 57 attempts (28.1 percent) from the field. Four players tied for the team lead with nine points: freshmen Mike Granda (Monroe Township, N.J./St. Joseph) and Sean Smith (Yonkers, N.Y./Sacred Heart), sophomore JoJo Cobbs (Elmsford, N.Y./Briarcliff) and senior Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman). Smith and Arena were named to the All-Tournament team after the game, as both players averaged 15.0 points per game in the Valiants' two contests.
 
Juniata jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead just over two minutes into the game, but Manhattanville came out of a timeout with seven straight points – five coming from Arena and two more from classmate Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) – to get within two with 16:33 left. However, nearly seven minutes would elapse before the visitors scored again, as the Eagles rattled off 16 straight points to take a 25-7 lead at the midway point of the half before a Smith three finally stopped the drought.
 
The home team closed the half with a 15-3 run to take a 48-20 lead into the break. The Eagles shot an amazing 70.4 percent (19 of 27) from the field and 60.0 percent (6 of 10) from beyond the arc in the first half, helping to put the game out of reach early.
 
Manhattanville will close out 2017 after Christmas with two games at Montclair State University's Gelston/Paskert Holiday Tournament, beginning with a first-round matchup versus Nazareth College on December 28 at 5 p.m.