PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's basketball team closed out the regular season on Saturday afternoon with the Valiants clinching the Skyline Conference's North Division with a 73-50 victory over Purchase College. Manhattanville concludes the regular season with an overall record of 19-6 and a conference mark of 12-4, officially claiming the No. 2 seed in the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament which begins next week.

The Valiants will host the No. 7 seed in their opening round matchup of postseason play on Tuesday.

Prior to the start of Saturday's action, the team honored their four seniors—Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's), Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben), Trevon Setzer-Smith (New Haven, Conn./Notre Dame) and Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South)—for their efforts and contributions to the program. The foursome would combine for 34 points in the victory.

It was Leech leading the way with a 10 point effort, ending the regular season with four-straight games in double-figures. Setzer-Smith would finish second on the Valiants in scoring in this one with nine across his 11 minutes of action, going 4-for-6 from the field. Lotito put up eight across his 21 minutes, matching Jake Dunn's (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) point total in the contest, while Giordano rounded out the leading scorers with seven points.

Giordano served as the rebounding leader for Manhattanville on Saturday with nine boards, with two of the caroms coming off the offensive glass. Lotito and Xavier Kistoo-Miles (Spring Valley, N.Y./Spring Valley) would each finish with five in the win.

Giordano would also add a pair of blocked shots to his totals for the day. Lotito dished out a team-best three assists, while Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) notched four steals.

For the first time all season, all 22 Valiants stepped on the court and saw playing time. Gustavo Cometti-Lacerda (Vitoria, Brazil/IMG Academy), Cole Durocher (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) and Neven Noor (Pomona, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) each made their collegiate debuts as they would see action in the tailend of the contest.

The Valiants used a 47 percent shooting rate from the floor in the first half to ultimately take a 14 point advantage at the intermission. After trading opening baskets, the Valiants went on a 10-0 run over a span of 3:27 to take a 12-2 lead, an advantage which held the rest of the way through. The Panthers never got closer than within eight, as Manhattanville would respond to losing the double-digit breathing room with a 12-3 run to go up 24-7 with 10 minutes left in the half. The first half lead would peak at 18 following a Jack Scanlon (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River High School) layup with 6:42 to go. The Panthers prevented things from getting out of hand by narrowing the gap to as low as 12, while Kamar Thomas would hit the final basket of the half to bring the score to 39-25 in favor of the Valiants.

With the 14 point cushion, the Valiants were able to continue building upon their advantage as they cycled in the bench throughout the second half. The inability to hit a three ultimately doomed Purchase, as the Panthers were just 2-of-22 from beyond the arc in the game compared to Manhattanville's 12-for-29 mark. With the big shots not falling for Purchase, the Valiants continued to extend the lead. A 7-0 run with threes by Dunn and Setzer-Smith gave Manhattanville a 50-29 lead with 15:23 to go. The lead would swell to a 29-point margin on Anthony Russo's (Howard Beach, N.Y./Holy Cross) three pointer with 3:48 remaining in regulation. The Panthers would score the last six points of the contest, but this iteration of the Battle of Anderson Hill Road stuck with Manhattanville, 73-50.

Up Next
The Valiants will represent the No. 2 seed in the Skyline Conference Championship tournament, which gets underway on Tuesday. Manhattanville will take on the No. 7 seed inside Kennedy Gymnasium in the first round. More information regarding game time will be available later this weekend as conference play officially concludes tonight.

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