PURCHASE, N.Y. – In a game that came down to the wire, the Manhattanville College men's basketball team survived and advanced in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Skyline Conference Men's Basketball Championship. The Valiants held off a resilient St. Joseph's (Long Island) team, picking up a 64-58 win to move on to the semifinals round.
Mike Granda (Monroe Township, N.J./St. Joseph), fresh off of being named to the Skyline Conference Honor Roll earlier this week, led the offensive effort with 14 points. The fifth-year guard accounted for four of the team's six three pointers and has reached double figures now in six straight games.
Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) scored 11 on a .500 shooting performance, while
Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) also put up 11 in 21 minutes of action off the bench.
The duo of Leech and Lotito were also the Valiants leading rebounders on the night, combining for 13 boards. The seven caroms by Leech matched his season high, while Lotito's six was his most boards in his last six outings. All but one of the 11 players that stepped on the court in the win contributed to the 30-rebound total.
The Golden Eagles may not have led past the 14:24 mark of the first half, but refused to go away despite trailing the rest of the night. St. Joseph's opened up the night on a 7-2 run before the Valiants responded with a 14-2 run to go up by seven with 11:08 left in the opening stanza. Manhattanville would not surrender the lead the rest of the way, but it was not due to a lack of effort by the fifth-seeded Golden Eagles. After Granda hit a deep ball with 2:39 left in the half to put the Valiants up 30-19, the Golden Eagles ended the half on a 7-2 run to close the gap down to six with 20 minutes to play.
Breathing room would be hard to come by in the second half, as St. Joseph's cut the lead down to four with 16:29 to go. The Valiants would eventually reclaim a double-digit lead, as a Lotito jumper at 12:32 put Manhattanville ahead 45-35, but once again the Golden Eagles made it a two basket game after a Matthew Hirdt three pointer at 8:37 made the score 50-46. After a pair of
Connor Yetman (Sydney, Australia/The Scots College (H.S.)) free throws put the Valiants up by five, Spencer Malloy responded with a layup to bring the score 57-54 with 4:30 to play. Leech responded with a clutch jumper shortly after, while
Chris Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael Academy) sank a shot from beyond the arc with 1:57 to go to finally put some space between the two teams. The Valiant backcourt hung tough the rest of the way as Manhattanville hit some crucial free throws to close out the night and move on.
The Valiants advance to the semifinals on Thursday, where fourth-seeded Manhattanville takes on the No. 1 seed Farmingdale State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Walter A. Lynch Sports Center.
