MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Closing out their first half of the schedule ahead of the holiday break, the Manhattanville College men's basketball team was defeated at Wesleyan on Thursday night, 74-60. The loss drops the Valiants to 4-5 on the year.

The Valiants had four scorers in double figures in the loss. Jake Dunn (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) led the team with 12 points each. The senior Dunn found success from deep on the night, with all of his made field goals coming from beyond the arc in his highest scoring output since his 19-point effort against John Jay on Nov. 23. The junior Leech shot 63 percent from the field and has now scored 12 points in his last two outings. Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) and Mike Granda (Monroe Township, N.J./St. Joseph) each added 10 for the visiting squad.

Wesleyan dominated the boards on the night, out rebounding Manhattanville 46-21. Dunn was the Valiants' leading playmaker on the glass as well with four boards on the night. Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) and Matt Bielenda (Wethersfield, Conn./Xavier), the latter making his return to the town where he played high school ball, each had three rebounds in the contest.

The Valiants started hot, as Connor Yetman (Sydney, Australia/The Scots College (H.S.)) buried Manhattanville's first shot of the night for a three pointer before Granda stole the Cardinals' ensuing possession and Dunn hit a deep ball of his own. Wesleyan responded with a 13-0 run, using three three-pointers of their own to take their first lead of the night. As it turned out, the lead would stay with the Cardinals the rest of the way. While the Valiants would pull to within two after a Leech three pointer with 11:32 left in the half made the score 17-15, the Cards went on a 15-2 run to go up by 15. The Valiants were able to cut the advantage down to 10 with a Chris Brown (Miami, Fla./Coral Gables Senior) layup with 29 second remaining, but they would be chasing the Cardinals for the rest of the night.

An 8-0 Wesleyan run to begin the half put the Valiants in an 18-point hole. The Cardinal lead climbed to as high as 20 with seven minutes remaining. Manhattanville would outscore Wesleyan 12-6 in the remaining minutes, but it was not enough to upend the hosts.

Up Next
The Valiants will be off until the 29^th of December when they travel to Baltimore for the two-day Johns Hopkins holiday tournament.

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