FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The Valiants are championship bound as the fourth-seeded Manhattanville College men's basketball team knocked off the No. 1 seed Farmingdale State on Thursday night by a final of 79-74. The Valiants advance to a conference finals game for the first time since making it to the championship round of the Freedom Tournament in 2009 and will compete in their first Skyline Championship contest since 2007.
It was a pair of 17-point outings from
Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) and
Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) that led the way for the Valiants in the win. Lotito, the team's leading scorer all season long, shot 5-of-6 from the field while sinking six of his eight free throw attempts. The junior also dished out a team-leading eight assists. Leech, meanwhile, had his second straight game in double-figures off the bench. The Chicago native shot .500 on the night including a 3-for-5 mark from beyond the arc.
Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) also had a solid outing off the bench with 12 points of his own.
Leech and Lotito would also end the night as the team's rebounding leaders alongside
Petey Galgano (New Rochelle, N.Y./Wilbraham & Monson Academy (Mass.)). Leech collected six caroms while Lotito and Galgano had five apiece. Galgano's two offensive boards were the team's high on the night.
In a game that saw 11 lead changes throughout the night, the contest was what everyone could hope for out of a semifinals matchup. A Lotito three and a
Chris Brown (Miami, Fla./Coral Gables Senior) layup at 17:08 put the Valiants up 7-4. From there, the Rams and Valiants matched each other point for point over the next four minutes, bringing the score to 15-12. Lotito's jump shot that reestablished the Valiants began an 8-1 run that gave either team their largest lead of the half with Manhattanville up 23-16. The Rams stormed back over the final 8:17 of the half, however, using an 11-3 run to take the lead with 3:33 to go. After four more lead changes, Nick Hurowitz fired the final salvo of the frame with a three pointer in the closing seconds to go up 34-30 heading into the second.
Farmingdale would open up the second half with a pair of layups, but the Valiants rose up in the face of their largest deficit of the night. Manhattanville shot a staggering 71 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes of play, including a 7-of-10 clip from beyond the arc. The lights out shooting half allowed Manhattanville to retake the lead with 13:40 to play after back-to-back Leech threes. With 6:13 to play, Lotito sank a jumper to even the score at 57-57. Giordano followed that up with a layup before Lotito scored again.
The 6-0 run was the start of a crucial momentum swing, as the valiants would then go on an 11-2 run to pull ahead by 11 with 2:21 remaining. The Rams refused to go quietly into the night, however, as the home team staged a near-comeback over the final 94 seconds. With the Valiants up by eight after
Jake Dunn (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) sank a pair of free throws, Corey Powell rolled a layup in before Jevon Santos completed an old-fashioned three point play to make it a one possession game with 12 seconds left. That would be as close as the Rams would get, however, as
Chris Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael Academy) and Lotito made a pair of crucial free throws to leave Farmingdale with the win and advance to the Skyline Championship finals.
The fourth-seeded Valiants will meet No. 3 Yeshiva on Sunday in the championship game. Tip-off for the finals is set for 1 p.m.
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