PURCHASE, N.Y. – A scoring barrage of ten different Valiants led the Manhattanville College men's basketball team to a conference win on Saturday afternoon, defeating Saint Joseph's-Brooklyn 87-66. The Valiants improve to 14-5 overall on the season with a 7-3 record in Skyline Conference play.

Manhattanville shot .500 in the win, their best shooting performance since Dec. 5 against Hunter. The 32 made field goals matches the second-most by the team this season, while the Valiants' .889 clip at the charity stripe was also their second-best effort of the season.

Four of the Valiant starting five eclipsed double figures, accounting for 56 of the team's points. As has come to be expected this season, Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) led the effort with 21 points, going 6-for-9 on field goal attempts in conjunction with a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line. It was Lotito's ninth game this season scoring 20 or more as his points per game average climbs up to 17.9, the second-highest in the conference.

Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) put up 15 on a season-best .750 shooting performance. The senior was 6-of-8 on field goals while pulling down eight rebounds to lead the way. Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) and Matt Bielenda (Wethersfield, Conn./Xavier) both finished with ten points for Manhattanville.
 

Led by Leech's effort off the glass, the Valiants outrebounded the Bears 44-31. Lotito added six caroms, a total matched by Daniel Marinaccio (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph By The Sea) off the bench. Giordano had a team-high four assists in the win, while Lotito and Jack Scanlon (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River High School) each logged a pair of steals.

An 11-2 run over the opening five minutes would put Manhattanville in the driver's seat for the rest of the day. Bielenda contributed five to the early advantage, hitting all three of his free throws after getting fouled on a shot attempt from beyond the arc. The Bears were able to close the gap to within three soon after before the Valiants went on an 11-3 run capped off by back-to-back layups from Scanlon to sport their first double-digit lead of the affair at 22-11.

Manhattanville's lead never dipped below seven for the remainder of the game as every time the Bears started to chip away the Valiants answered back with baskets in quick succession. Saint Joseph's would cut the lead back down to nine after Evan Sirakis converted an and-1 with 3:30 left before the Valiants closed out the half with 12 of the final 13 points, leading 47-27 at the horn.

With the sizeable lead, the Valiants were able to keep things under control to secure the win in the second half. The Bears were unable to get closer than 21 points the rest of the way home. Lotito put the finishing touches on his strong day with nine points in the second half, while Bielenda and Scanlon each had five. Marinaccio pulled down four rebounds over the final 20 minutes to limit the Bears' second chance opportunities as the Valiants end the week with a 21 point margin of victory.

Up Next
The Valiants will next be on the court in February, heading to Patchogue to take on Saint Joseph's-Long Island on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

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