NEWBURGH, N.Y. – Feeding off their highest-scoring half in four years, the Manhattanville University men's basketball team completed the regular-season series sweep of Mount Saint Mary on Tuesday night, defeating the Knights 76-62 inside the Kaplan Recreation Center. The win brings the Valiants to 8-14 overall, who are now 4-9 in Skyline Conference play to remain in a virtual tie for the eighth and final berth for the postseason tournament looming just two weeks away.
The Valiants put 53 points on the board in the first half en route to the victory. It was the most points Manhattanville had scored in a single half since November 2021 when the Valiants scored 59 in the second half in a 101-85 triumph over CCNY. Manhattanville came out firing, shooting .645 over the opening 20 minutes while going 11-for-18 (61 percent) from deep.
It was another stellar performance from
Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) on display as the senior scored 27 to lead all players. Saint-Louis has now scored 20 in four of Manhattanville's last five games, going 8-for-13 from the field in Tuesday's win. He connected on four shots from deep and went 7-for-10 at the free throw line.
John Ranaghan (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) and
Benjamin Merritt (West Hartford, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) joined Saint-Louis in double figures, combining for 22 points. Ranaghan put up 12, doing his heavy lifting with three three-pointers, while Merritt scored 10 for his first game in double-figures since Nov. 26 against York.
Saint-Louis and
Andrew Melillo (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) each came down with eight caroms to lead Manhattanville in the battle of the boards, while
Jack Scanlon (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River High School) pulled down seven rebounds. Scanlon and Saint-Louis finished with five assists each, while Ranaghan led the Valiants with four takeaways.
The Valiants opened the night on a 10-0 run, with Saint-Louis providing seven of the points.
Daniel Marinaccio (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph By The Sea) also connected from deep as part of the hot start through the opening four minutes. The Knights got on the board off a tip-in by Ben Toussaint before the Valiants scored another 11 straight as Ranaghan hit a pair of threes and Saint-Louis added another shot from beyond the arc, putting Manhattanville up 21-2 after six minutes of play.
Manhattanville rode the momentum throughout the rest of the night, leading by as many as 27 in the first half. The three-pointer discrepancy was the biggest difference maker in the opening 20 minutes, as the Knights were unable to keep up with the Valiants, even with the home team hitting five first half threes. Manhattanville's 11
th and final three-pointer of the half from Saint-Louis put the Valiants up 53-26. Ryan Graham chipped away at the deficit before the half came to close with a pair of baskets for the Knights, bringing Manhattanville's lead to 53-30.
With the dominant display in the first half, the Valiants were able to withstand a cold spell in the second half. Manhattanville's shooting percentage plummeted down to 28 percent over the final 20 minutes, with the Valiants missing all 12 of their three-point tries. The offense going stagnant allowed the Knights to keep Manhattanville from running away with things, cutting the deficit down to 15 with 12 minutes to go. Layups from Scanlon and
Carlos Urena (Corona, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) pushed Manhattanville's lead back up to 19, eventually peaking at 20 following a Melillo layup with 7:30 left to play, 70-50. The Knights outscored Manhattanville 12-6 over the remainder of regulation, but time was not on Mount Saint Mary's side as the Valiants closed out the wire-to-wire win, 76-62.
Up Next
Manhattanville hosts Purchase on Sunday at 3 p.m. for Senior Day.
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