DALLAS, Pa. – The Manhattanville College men's basketball team had its second-half comeback finish up a few points short as the Valiants fell to Misericordia University, 86-71, in the team's 2017-18 season finale on Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Center.
 
Senior Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) led Manhattanville (9-16, 3-11 MAC Freedom) with 22 points in his final collegiate game, in the process moving past Al Viafore '97 into 22nd place on the school's career scoring list. Sophomore JoJo Cobbs (Elmsford, N.Y./Briarcliff) added 16 points and freshman Sean Smith (Yonkers, N.Y./Sacred Heart) chipped in 11 and a team-high six rebounds as well for the visitors.
 
Manhattanville was unable to string together back-to-back baskets in the opening 20 minutes of play, as the visitors shot 38.5 percent (10 of 26) from the field and turned the ball over 11 times. The Valiants grabbed a pair of early leads following two Tuci three-pointers, but the team could not contend with a hot-shooting Cougar squad that connected on 15 of 25 attempts (60.0 percent) in the first half.
 
Misericordia (15-10, 10-4 MAC Freedom) increased its lead to as many as 22 in the second half, but Manhattanville did not go quietly. The Valiants went on a 20-5 run in the span of 5:24 to cut the lead down to seven with 7:36 on the clock. The visitors hit all eight shots from the field, including three from beyond the arc, during the run, which started with a Smith three-point play and finished with a three-pointer from senior Chris Ayson (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial).
 
However, the home team hit eight of its final 11 shots the rest of the way to keep the Valiants from getting any closer.
 
Manhattanville finished the game shooting better from beyond the arc (11 of 25, 44.0 percent) than from all areas of the floor (26 of 60, 43.3 percent).

Saturday's game is the final collegiate contest for Manhattanville's five seniors: Tuci, Ayson, Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman), Brian Haggerty (Bayside, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and Timmy Quinlan (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys).