PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's basketball team suffered an 87-82 setback at the hands of York on Tuesday night. The loss drops the Valiants to 3-4 on the season, while the Cardinals pick up their first win of the year, improving to 1-5.
Tuesday marked Manhattanville's first ever loss against York, having won the ten previous meetings dating back to 1977.
Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) matched his career-high of 27 points in the loss, leading all scorers from both teams. The senior went 10-for-19 from the field and hit six of his eight free throw attempts for his third game with 20 or more points.
Coming off his career-high 22 points in Saturday's win at Neumann,
Andrew Melillo (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) continued his fine start to his sophomore campaign with 16 points on an 5-for-11 night from the field. He too was solid at the charity stripe, knocking in five of his seven free throw attempts.
Benjamin Merritt (West Hartford, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) rounded out the leading scorers for the Valiants, providing 13 points off the bench while shooting 50 percent from the floor and draining a team-high three three-pointers.
Melillo and Saint-Louis also lead Manhattanville's effort off the glass, accounting for 12 of the Valiants' 24 boards. Meillo came down with seven caroms while Saint-Louis pulled down five, two of which came off the offensive glass. That total was matched by
Jack Scanlon (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River High School) who finished with four total boards.
Melillo added a pair of steals and five assists to his effort.
York hit on more than half of their shot attempts in the first half, threatening to put the game out of reach across the opening 20. A Saint-Louis jumper and
Daniel Marinaccio (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph By The Sea) three-pointer had the Valiants off to a lead in the first two minutes before the Cardinals eventually tied things up at 7-7 following an Aidony Nivar three at the 16:13 mark. The teams met at another stalemate at 11-11 before York went on a 20-7 run to stake claim to a 13-point advantage with seven minutes to go in the half. The Cardinal lead topped out at a 14-point advantage following Leonardo Chavez' layup that brought the score to 35-21 with 5:39 on the clock.
Manhattanville regrouped over the final five minutes of the half, outscoring York 17-8 to fight their way back into the contest. It was eight straight Valiant points that kickstarted the run, with Saint-Louis hitting a pair of layups and two free throws alongside Meillo's pair from the line. Brandon Barrett put an end to the Cardinals' two minute scoring drought with a layup but a
Thomas Mullin (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy High School) three pointer ahead of two more Melillo free throws suddenly made it a one possession game again at 37-34 with 2:47 left in the half. The Cardinals were able to bring their advantage back up to five before the opening period drew to a close, with Demitrius Gould's jumper putting York up 43-38 in the final minute.
York continued to shoot at better than 50 percent the rest of the way home, coupled with a 12-for-16 mark at the free throw line in the second half to hold off Manhattanville. The Cardinals drilled the first two baskets of the second half to go up by nine, but the Valiants looked to seize momentum with 11 unanswered points to take their first lead off a
Jack Quinn (Greenwich, Conn./The Winchendon School) layup since four minutes after opening tipoff.
Despite the effort to close the gap and go back in front, the Valiant lead never swelled past two points as York was quick to tie things up twice in the following possessions. Tied 53-53, the Cardinals hit three-straight shots from beyond the arc to take a lead they never surrendered. York led by as many as 11 over the final 12 minutes, with the Valiants able to get back to within four with three minutes left to play. York took care of business at the free throw line to snuff out Manhattanville's final hopes of fighting all the way back for a second time.
Up Next
The Valiants return to action after Thanksgiving break next Tuesday to host Hunter College at 7 p.m.
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