WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Despite a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds from senior Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle), the Manhattanville College men's basketball team dropped a 78-59 contest to Eastern Connecticut State University, ranked 20th in the latest D3hoops.com Div. III National Poll, on Tuesday night at Geissler Gym.
 
Tuci led all scorers for Manhattanville (3-3) with his 20 points, hitting 6-of-10 shots from the field and draining 7-of-10 free-throw attempts. He was joined in double figures by sophomore JoJo Cobbs (Elmsford, N.Y./Briarcliff), who scored 16 points on 7-of-15 shooting, while senior Brian Haggerty (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) just missed double digits with nine points after hitting all four shots from the field.
 
Tarchee Brown led four Warriors in double figures with a team-high 16 points, while Cory Muckle added 12 points and a team-best eight boards for Eastern Connecticut State (7-0), which remained unbeaten on the year.
 
Tuci opened the game with a layup from classmate Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) and the Valiants led for much of the first seven minutes, until a 10-0 ECSU run put the Warriors up by a 21-13 margin with 10:42 left in the opening half. Manhattanville got the deficit down to four on a pair of occasions after a Tuci bucket and a Cobbs three-pointer, but the home team closed the half on a 16-2 run over the final 5:31 to take a 44-24 lead into the half.
 
The Valiants shot 51.9 percent (14 of 27) from the field in the second half, as the visitors out-scored the home team by a 35-34 margin. However, the Valiants were unable to make much of a dent in the deficit over the final 20 minutes.
 
Manhattanville finished the game shooting 45.1 percent (23 for 51) from the field, while Eastern Connecticut ended the night at 49.2 percent (31 of 63) from the field.
 
The Valiants will play their final home game of 2017 on Saturday, when the team hosts Elmira College at Kennedy Gym for a 3 p.m. tipoff.