GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Manhattanville University men's basketball team had four players selected to the 2024-25 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District® Team, as announced earlier this week.

Sophomores Andrew Melillo (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and John Ranaghan (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) make the team in their first years of eligibility, while junior Daniel Marinaccio (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph By The Sea) earns his first CSC recognition and senior Andrew Saint-Louis (Norwalk, Conn./Notre Dame Fairfield) makes his second-consecutive Academic All-District® appointment.

CSC honors and celebrates the academic and athletic successes of student-athletes with the Academic All-District® Team. All student-athletes with standing of sophomore or greater both academically and athletically were eligible for nomination to the team this year. Athletes needed to have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average while competing in 90 percent of their institution's games or making starts in 66 percent of the team's games.

Marinaccio battled back from injury at the start of the season to start in each of the Valiants' final 18 games. Playing a career-high 18.4 minutes per game, the junior scored 73 points during the season and came down with a new best of 33 rebounds. Marinaccio shot 32 percent from the floor last season and added 16 assists and 10 steals over the campaign. He played a season-high 27 minutes upon making his season debut against Neumann on Nov. 23.

Melillo started all 25 games as a sophomore and led the Valiants with 70 assists, averaging 2.8 per game. Building off his strong freshman campaign a year ago, Melillo scored 158 points and had 97 rebounds, 29 steals and four blocks, all improvements of his rookie numbers. Playing close to 29 minutes per game, Melillo reached double-figures offensively in five games during the season, erupting for a career-high 22 on Nov. 23 against Neumann.

Melillo's classmate Ranaghan also took big strides in his sophomore development, joining him in the starting five for all 25 games. A guard out of Pearl River, N.Y., Ranaghan finished as Manhattanville's second-highest scorer with 361 points, putting up 14.4 per contest. He led the Valiants from deep, hitting 55 three-pointers, while also shooting a team-high 84 percent at the free throw line. Ranaghan added 92 rebounds, 51 assists and 26 steals to set new career-highs with his role on the team increasing in his second year in a Valiant jersey. He scored ten or more points in 21 games, including eight straight to end the season. Ranaghan scored a season-high 24 on Dec. 3 against Hunter and would post a 19 point, 11 rebound double-double against Mount Saint Vincent on Dec. 14.

Rounding out the Valiants' honorees, Saint-Louis earned a second-straight Academic All-District® selection with his performance on the court and in the classroom. The senior was a Skyline All-Conference Second Team selection and made the D3hoops All-Region Third Team following his best season at Manhattanville. Saint-Louis was Manhattanville's leading scorer with 441 points, averaging 19.2 points per game in his 23 starts. He drilled a career-high 45 three-pointers to bring his career total up to 112, good for the ninth most in program history. Saint-Louis also set personal highs with 117 rebounds, 50 assists and 32 steals as he was one of the Valiants' leading playmakers all over the floor. With his successes on the court coupled with his continued academic accomplishments, Saint-Louis was selected to advance to the national CSC Academic All-America® ballot, with honorees to be announced mid-April.

About the Academic All-America®/All-District® Program

The 2024-25 Academic All-District® Women's Basketball Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
 
The Division II and III CSC Academic All-America® programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2024-25 Divisions II and III Academic All-America® programs. The NAIA CSC Academic All-America® program is partially financially supported through the NAIA governance structure.

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