ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Junior Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) led all scorers with a career-high 27 points, but it was not enough to lead the Manhattanville College men's basketball team to an upset of first-place Eastern University as the Valiants fell by a 69-60 score in MAC Freedom action on Saturday afternoon at Eagles Gym.
 
The defeat eliminates Manhattanville (8-15, 4-8 MAC Freedom) from postseason contention, as the Valiants remain in sixth place in the conference with two games remaining. Eastern (15-8, 10-2 MAC Freedom) remains in sole possession of first place in the conference with the win.
 
Tuci had another big game, shooting 8-of-20 from the field and also sinking all eight free-throw attempts on the way to his career-high total; the junior also added eight rebounds for the visitors. Classmate Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) chipped in 14 points, five assists and five rebounds for the Valiants and fellow junior Brian Haggerty (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) hauled in a team-best 10 rebounds as well.
 
Eastern set the tone early with a 14-3 run over the first 7:41 of the game, and the home team never fully relinquished its lead the rest of the day. Manhattanville battled back to get within one point with 6:05 to go in the first half, as a Tuci three-point play capped an 8-0 run to put the score at 22-21. The Eagles ended the first half on a subsequent 11-3 run to grab a 33-24 lead at the break.
 
The Valiants scored eight of the second half's first 10 points to get back within three at 35-32, but again Eastern responded with a 12-2 spurt to lead 47-34 with 14:11 remaining. The visitors could not get the deficit back to single digits until the final minutes, by which time the game had become a free-throw shooting contest for the Eagles.
 
Manhattanville took good care of the ball with only six turnovers, and as a result took 17 more shots than Eastern. However, the Valiants did not have a great shooting day, finishing at 33.8 percent (22 of 65) from the field, compared to 45.8 percent (22 of 48) for the home team.
 
Manhattanville will close out the season with two games at Kennedy Gym next week, beginning with a Tuesday night matchup with FDU-Florham beginning at 8 p.m.