PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – Kicking off the final month of the season, the Manhattanville College men's basketball team was victorious on Wednesday night, defeating Saint Joseph's-Long Island 61-52. The nine-point win moves the Valiants to 10 games over .500 at 15-5 overall and 8-3 in the Skyline Conference. Manhattanville remains in second place in the conference's North Division, trailing USMMA by a game.

The 2022-23 campaign continues to be one of the best in program history as it is the earliest that the Valiants have notched their 15^th win since the 2006-07 season that saw Manhattanville make the NCAA Tournament. With five games left to go in the regular season, the Valiants will look to continue playing strong entering the home stretch.

Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) and Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) led the offense with a combined 24 points as the senior tandem both reach double-digits. Lotito put up a team-high 14 points to extend his streak of 10 or more points to 14 straight games. He would also hand out six assists to continue piloting the offense even when he wasn't scoring. Giordano, meanwhile, put up 10 points for a second straight game as he shot 80 percent from the floor.

The duo of Giordano and Lotito would also get heavily involved in the rebound game, combining for 13 boards. Giordano pulled down seven caroms, sharing the team's lead on the night with Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben), while Lotito ended the game with six boards. Jake Dunn (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) collected five rebounds while logging a pair of steals.

Dunn and Matt Bielenda (Wethersfield, Conn./Xavier) got the Valiants off to a hot start with a pair of three pointers to put Manhattanville ahead with a lead they would hold for close to 14 minutes to open up play. The Eagles would keep pace with the Valiants, preventing Manhattanville from leading by more than six through the early going. Saint Joseph's would use a 4-0 run to take a 20-19 advantage with 6:06 remaining the half, their first lead of the contest. Lotito responded quickly with a layup on the other end to put the Valiants back in front, the start of a 10-0 Manhattanville run that put the Valiants up 29-20 with 2:24 to go before halftime. Xavier Allen would hit a layup to pull the Eagles back within seven as both offenses would go scoreless over the final two minutes, giving the Valiants a seven point advantage to begin the second half.

Giordano would get the Valiant lead up to double digits with back-to-back baskets to open up the new half, 33-22. Saint Joseph's would narrow the gap down to six points with 13:25 remaining in regulation, but baskets from Jack Scanlon (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River High School) and Xavier Kistoo-Miles (Spring Valley, N.Y./Spring Valley) reestablished the 10 point lead. The advantage would peak at 14 with 3:39 to go courtesy of an Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) layup. The Eagles made one last push with five straight points to make it a 59-50 game with under a minute to play, but the Valiants hit a pair of free throws as the Eagles finished on a 1-for-5 stretch from the field in crunch time to allow Manhattanville to secure the win.

Up Next
The Valiants head to Throggs Neck on Saturday for a showdown at Maritime College at 1 p.m.

VALIANTS on SOCIAL MEDIA For the latest on Manhattanville Athletics, follow the Valiants via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.  #WeAreValiant #GoValiants