PURCHASE, N.Y. – At one point, the Manhattanville College men's basketball team trailed Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom rival Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham by 20 points in the final minutes of the first half Wednesday night, Feb. 13, but the Valiants clawed all the way back to come away with the dramatic one-point victory over the visiting Red Devils, 79-78, at Kennedy Gymnasium on Senior Night in their regular-season home finale.
Manhattanville (10-14, 4-9 MACF) started the night off a bit cold from the floor, and as mentioned, fell behind by 20 points at 42-22 with 4:57 remaining in the first half. Fortunately, the Valiants closed the half on a 13-2 run against FDU-Florham (6-18, 3-10 MACF) to trim the gap to single digits at 44-35. Much like the first meeting this season at the Red Devils, Manhattanville was now looking at a comeback opportunity to try and sweep the season series with a strong second half.
The two squads battled back and forth for most of the first eight minutes of the second before Manhattanville finally tied the game at 58-58 with 11:49 remaining. Rookie
Matt Bielenda (Wethersfield, Conn./Xavier) began with a strong layup at 13:12 to force a Red Devil timeout, and then out of the break, freshman
Petey Galgano (New Rochelle, N.Y./Wilbraham & Monson Academy (Mass.)) jumped on a FDU-Florham pass for the steal and found junior
JoJo Cobbs (Elmsford, N.Y./Briarcliff) on the run for the layin on the break at 12:54. Following a few back-and-forth possessions, sophomore
Sean Smith, Jr. (Yonkers, N.Y./Sacred Heart), pulled down a big offensive board and found rookie
Connor Yetman (Sydney, Australia/The Scots College (H.S.)) under the basket for the layup to knot the game at 58. Those six points started an 18-2 run, which eventually put the Valiants up by 10 at 70-60, their largest lead of the night.
Smith followed his offensive rebound with a pair of free throws at 10:54 and then back-to-back three-pointers at 10:27 and 9:31, followed by another two made foul shots at 8:18. Rookie
Chris Brown (Miami, Fla./Coral Gables Senior) sealed the run with a huge steal at half court and the eurostepped his way to a fastbreak layin at 7:33 to force another FDU-Florham timeout.
The Red Devils recovered following the break and the Valiants cooled off slightly and a 9-2 FDU-Florham run trimmed Manhattanville's lead to just three at 72-69 with 4:43 remaining. Eventually, the Red Devils cut the advantage to one at 74-73 with 2:18 left. Smith and fellow sophomore
Mike Granda (Monroe Township, N.J./St. Joseph) scored five points over the next minute to put the Valiants up by six with just 1:06 remaining and it looked to be all over for the visitors. FDU closed out the game with a pair of free-throws and a three-pointer and now trailed 79-78 with 00:05 remaining in regulation but the Valiants were able to successfully inbound the ball after a Red Devil timeout and effectively ran the clock out.
Highlights:
- Smith finished with game-highs in points (26), rebounds (15) and steals (5). He now has 13 double-doubles on the season.
- Cobbs followed closely with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
- The lone Valiant senior Mike Ryan (Bronx, N.Y./Arlington) played 25 minutes and registered eight points, four rebounds and four assists.
Manhattanville closes out the 2018-19 season this weekend on the road Saturday afternoon, Feb. 16, at King's College (Pa.) in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The Valiants and Monarchs tip off at 3:00 p.m.
