PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's basketball team put up a good fight against one of the top teams in the MAC Freedom, but the Valiants came out on the wrong side of an 88-78 score in MAC Freedom action on Wednesday night at Kennedy Gym.
 
Manhattanville (6-8, 0-3 MAC Freedom) had the top-two scorers on the night, as senior Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) netted a game-high 21 points and classmate Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) had 20 points and 11 boards for his sixth double-double of the year. However, the Valiants were done in by a well-rounded DeSales (11-3, 2-1 MAC Freedom) squad that saw five players score in double figures.
 
DeSales scored the first seven points of the game before Manhattanville could get into any sort of rhythm offensively, but the home team battled back to take a 12-11 lead following a three-pointer from freshman Sean Smith (Yonkers, N.Y./Sacred Heart). However, the Bulldogs regained the lead on the very next possession thanks to a James Smith jumper.
 
The same scenario happened two more times in the opening frame, as Manhattanville used a 10-2 run to erase a seven-point deficit and take a 30-29 lead on a Tuci bucket, only to have DeSales come back down the floor and snatch the lead back on the next possession.
 
Tuci knotted the game at 32 with 1:48 remaining in the first half, but DeSales scored the final six points of the frame to take a 38-32 lead into intermission. DeSales shot 50.0 percent (16 of 32) from the field in the opening 20 minutes while Manhattanville shot 48.2 percent (13 of 27).
 
Manhattanville got the deficit to as few as four points after the second of back-to-back threes from Arena made the score 44-40 3:53 into the second half, but the Valiants could not sustain the momentum and DeSales eventually built up a 15-point cushion at the midway point of the half.
 
The Valiants got the lead back down to single digits in the waning minutes, but DeSales was content to trade baskets for free throws as the visitors held off a late Valiant charge.
 
Manhattanville finished the night shooting 45.2 percent (28 of 62) from the field, while DeSales used a hot-shooting second half to finish at 50.8 percent (30 of 59) from the field.
 
The Valiants return to action on Saturday with a MAC Freedom matchup at King's (Pa.) College beginning at 3 p.m.