PURCHASE, N.Y. – For the first time since Nov. 29, the Manhattanville College men's basketball team suffered a loss on their home court as the Valiants were defeated by Mount Saint Vincent 63-58 on Wednesday night. The defeat will drop Manhattanville to 13-5 on the season with a 6-3 mark in Skyline play as the team falls into second place in the Skyline's North Division behind USMMA.

Fresh off of making his second D3hoops Team of the Week, Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) was once again the Valiants' offensive leader on Wednesday. The senior went 7-of-16 from the field to the tune of 17 points, making his streak 12 straight games scoring 10 or more. With 319 points scored on the season, Lotito remains in second in the conference's leaderboard, trailing only Zevi Samet of Yeshiva (381 points). Lotito would also dish out six assists while recording three steals and four rebounds

Jake Dunn (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) put up 13 points, his highest offensive output since November. The graduate guard matched Lotito's three three-pointers as he did most of his damage from deep. Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) added nine points, rounding out the Valiants' top offensive performers.

Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) and Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) shared top rebounding duties as the duo pulled down five boards each. Leech now holds the team lead on the year with 122 rebounds, averaging 6.8 per contest. Alongside Lotito, Matt Bielenda (Wethersfield, Conn./Xavier) and Xavier Kistoo-Miles (Spring Valley, N.Y./Spring Valley) finished with four rebounds. The Dolphins would win the battle of the boards, 41-30.

The Valiants led for the entire first half after Dunn and Lotito opened the night by hitting a pair of layups. Manhattanville's lead would peak at eight over the opening 20 minutes as the Dolphins refused to let the Valiants get too far ahead. Mount Saint Vincent, conversely, would pull within one on three separate occasions in the half, but the Valiants responded to the opponent breathing down their necks with timely baskets to stay in front. With Manhattanville clinging to a 15-14 lead, Kistoo-Mile and Saint-Louis pioneered a 6-0 run to take a seven point advantage with less than five minutes remaining in the half. The Dolphins would once again chip away as an Adrian Rraci layup made it a three point game before Giordano responded with a layup on the other side of the court, making the score 25-20 with 1:13 to go. The teams would both miss a pair of three point attempts in the closing minute, sending the squads to the locker room with the Valiants up five.

Shooting 52 percent in the second half, the Dolphins were able to take control of the game. After seemingly matching each other shot for shot through the first five minutes of the half, Dan Procic drained back-to-back threes to tie the game up at 39-39 at the 13:55 mark, the first time the score was tied since the opening tip. Joshua Cabezudo would cap off an 8-0 run to give the Dolphins their first lead of the night. While Manhattanville quickly responded to retake the lead with a 7-0 run of their own, the 46-41 advantage with 10:48 remaining would be the largest the home team would see the rest of the way. The Dolphins scored seven straight to go back in front before Lotito hit a shot from behind the arc, putting the Valiants up 49-48 with nine minutes to go. With neither team able to hit a basket for the following minute and a half, the Dolphins snapped the cold spell with three straight jumpers by DJ Tucker. The run put CMSV up 54-49 with less than five minutes to play. While Manhattanville would get back within two, the Dolphins were able to reestablish the multi-score advantage, closing out the night with the 63-58 win.

Up Next
The Valiants will look to bounce back on Saturday when the host Saint Joseph's-Brooklyn at 1 p.m.

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