KINGS POINT, N.Y. - Using a furious second-half comeback to take the lead in the second stanza, the Manhattanville University men's basketball team was outlasted by Merchant Marine, 69-59, on Wednesday night at James W. Liebertz Gymnasium. With the loss, the Valiants sit at 6-12, with a 2-7 mark in Skyline Conference play. 

The Valiants embarked on a 31-15 run over the opening 11 minutes of the second half, connecting on over 55 percent of their shots from beyond the arc, but the Mariners swung the momentum back in their favor to reestablish the lead and squander the Valiant revival. 

Manhattanville was led offensively by Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield), who finished the contest with 20 points, doing his damage from the line turning in a 9-of-11 performance from the charity stripe. John Ranaghan (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) followed suit in double digits with 13 of his own, proving to be the Valiants most effective shooter from long range on the night, as he cashed in on three deep heaves. 

Merchant Marine controlled the pace of play from the tip, forcing the Valiants into three turnovers, resulting in points on the other end. Manhattanville got themselves in a hole, as the Valiants could not find the bottom of the basket, being forced into a 2-for-12 shooting line through the opening eight minutes of the contest. Clawing back into the contest, Manhattanville would have to use the free-throw line to slice into the Kings Point lead, hitting at an 8-of-12 clip. Ranaghan and Saint-Louis would be the main two to lift the Valiants in the final eleven minutes of the first half, scoring seven and four points, respectively. On the other side of the court, the combo of Drew Zalescik and Clark Castleberry was firing on all cylinders combining for 14 of the Mariners 24 points, seeing the clock hit zero in the first half with USMMA in front, 35-21. 

Coming out of the halftime break, the Valiants completely flipped the script of the contest, connecting on 61.5 percent of their efforts from the field, as they used eight minutes to fight back into the game powered by Saint-Louis, Ranaghan, and Carlos Urena (Corona, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy). Manhattanville would even the scoring with nine minutes remaining thanks to free throws from Saint-Louis, taking the first lead of the contest after forcing USMMA to a 0-for-5 shooting slump that stretched for the next three minutes of game time, allowing Manhattanville to mount a two-point lead, 50-48. Merchant Marine channeled their first-half performance to close out the Valiants, embarking on a run of their own, 21-9 over the remainder of the contest. USMMA would get to the line and sink 12-of-15 attempts from the stripe, putting the game out of reach, while forcing the Valiant shooting well to run dry, for a 2-of-11 clip in the close as the final buzzer sounded a 69-59 USMMA win. 

Up Next 

Manhattanville travels to Brooklyn to battle with the Bears of St. Joseph's-Brooklyn on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. 
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