PURCHASE, N.Y. – Fueled by
John Ranaghan's (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) career-high 24 points, the Manhattanville University men's basketball team defeated Hunter College 72-64 inside Kennedy Gymnasium on Tuesday night. The win brings the Valiants back up to .500 on the year at 4-4 overall, while the Hawks drop to 1-6.
Ranaghan did his heavy lifting at the free throw line, connecting on all 13 of his shots at the charity stripe. It was the best individual performance the Valiants have had at the line in ten years when Anthony Maestre '16 hit 17 against Southern Virginia in Nov. 2015.
Beyond his leading scoring performance, the sophomore Ranaghan added a team-high three steals with two assists and four rebounds.
Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) made it six-straight games in double-figures to open up his senior season as he put 16 on the board to compliment Ranaghan's effort. Saint-Louis went 5-for-12 from the field and was also efficient at the free throw line, going 5-for-6. He also paced the Valiants' rebounding effort with nine boards.
Benjamin Merritt (West Hartford, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) provided nine points off the bench, all from shots from beyond the arc.
Jack Scanlon (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River High School) pulled down seven rebounds to go alongside his five assists, two steals and season-high eight-point outing.
Neither team could seize momentum in the first half as it would take twelve and a half minutes for either side to claim a multi-possession lead. Five lead changes and four tied scores told the story of the early going before Manhattanville pieced together the first sustained scoring run of the night. After Enzo Caceres-Roussell drilled a three to put Hunter up 17-14, the Valiants scored eight straight points to take a five-point lead with seven and a half minutes left in the half.
The Hawks came back to even things up again at 24-24 on a Sal Saputo layup before the Valiants got back-to-back baskets from Scanlon and Melillo to take a 28-24 lead with 3:45 left. Those would be the final buckets on either side of the floor of the half as the teams combined to go 0-for-12 from the field before the horn sounded to give the sides a much-needed breather to find their footings.
The break did both offenses good as the Hawks and Valiants combined to score 84 points in the second half. After Hunter broke the ice with an opening jumper,
Daniel Marinaccio (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph By The Sea) hit a three ahead of a Saint-Louis layup to put the Valiants up by seven. Hunter pulled back within one off an old-fashioned three-point play from Sal Saputo before Manhattanville went on a 12-3 run to take the first double-digit lead of the affair, up 45-35 with 13:17 to play.
Manhattanville's lead climbed up to a 17-point margin courtesy of a 10-0 run generated by back-to-back threes from Ranaghan and Merritt before Ranaghan and
Jack Quinn (Greenwich, Conn./The Winchendon School) hit from short-range to put the home side up 60-43 with 5:32 remaining. The Hawks were able to get the deficit back down to single digits, but Manhattanville got the job done at the free throw line to close out the win. The Valiants hit all 10 of their free throw attempts in the final three minutes of the game, led by Ranaghan drilling the first six. Donovon Cola brought the Hawks within a pair of possessions with a jumper but Saint-Louis snuffed out any hopes of a comeback with two final free throws in the closing seconds for the 72-64 win.
Up Next
The Valiants wrap up the non-conference schedule on Sunday, traveling to the Bronx to take on Medgar Evers at 1 p.m.
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