ASTON, Pa. – The 2022-23 Manhattanville College men's basketball season officially drew to a close on Wednesday night as the fifth-seeded Valiants were defeated by No. 4 Neumann 82-75 in the first round of the ECAC Tournament. The loss will bring Manhattanville's final record on the season to 21-8 overall.

The Valiants had five players reach double-figures in the contest. The effort was led by a 16-point performance by Xavier Kistoo-Miles (Spring Valley, N.Y./Spring Valley) off the bench, tying the junior's season-best output. Kistoo-Miles shot 6-of-11 from the field, including a 4-for-7 mark from deep.

Jackson Leech (Chicago, Ill./Von Steuben) put up 12 for the Valiants while hauling down a team-high seven rebounds. The board total was matched by Leech's classmate Ryan Giordano (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) who added ten points of his own. Jake Dunn (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and Tommy Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) would each finish the night with ten points as well to round out the top offensive performers for the Valiants. Lotito, fresh off his Skyline Player of the Year appointment, officially ends his senior campaign with 492 points scored, 183 rebounds, and 125 assists.

The Valiants put up 33 bench points while Neumann's starting five accounted for all 82 of their points scored. The Knights attempted just six three pointers on the night, compared to Manhattanville's 34 shots from beyond the arc. Neumann was content to drive to the hoop and do damage from short and medium range, aided by a 44-27 rebound margin. The Knights put up 20 second chance points while the Valiants were held scoreless off offensive boards, ultimately the difference maker on the night.

The teams would battle to four separate tied scores through the opening 5:20. Neumann would take a lead after each of the first three ties before a three-point play by Leech gave the Valiants their first lead of the game at 13-12. Neumann responded to their first deficit with a 6-0 run to go back in front with a lead that would climb as high as eight points in the half, leading 27-19 with 8:02 remaining. Manhattanville would come storming back with a 17-5 run over the ensuing 5:05 to pull ahead 36-32. Neumann closed out the half on a 7-2 run over the final 2:41 to take a slim 39-38 halftime lead.

Both teams shot 50 percent in the second half, but the Knights drew 14 more free throw attempts in the closing 20 minutes than Manhattanville. The extra attempts at the charity stripe, coupled with their continued outrebounding, allowed Neumann to seal the deal in the tailend of the game. While the Knights' lead never reached double figures, the Valiants were unable to get back in front. Manhattanville brought the score back to even at 45-45 off a Giordano layup with 16:36 left in regulation, but the Knights responded with 11 of the next 13 points to take their largest lead of the game to go ahead by nine.

Manhattanville prevented the Knights from running away with the game as Kistoo-Miles and Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) hit back-to-back threes to make it a one possession game once again. It would take three more minutes before the Valiants would completely erase Neumann's lead as Kistoo-Miles tied the game at 63-63 with a three with nine minutes to play. The free throws began to pay dividends for the hosting team as the Knights hit four straight from the charity stripe to regain some breathing room. While the Valiants had successfully battled back from larger deficits twice already in the half, Manhattanville would be unable to overcome this last hurdle as they pulled back within a single point on three separate occasions before the Knights thwarted their comeback attempt with a timely basket. Leech pulled the Valiants back within one, 73-72, with a layup at 4:34, but Neumann put together a 9-1 run to put the game out of reach with less than a minute to play. Saint-Louis hit a pair of free throws with 52 seconds to play, but that would be all for the Valiants as they would fall 82-75 to close the book on the 2022-23 campaign.

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