WAYNE, N.J. – The Manhattanville men's basketball team picked up its signature win to this point of the 2011-12 season on Saturday afternoon, as the Valiants shook off a tough start to overtake and eventually hold off previously unbeaten William Paterson, ranked 22nd in this week's D3Hoops.com Division III National Poll, in an 83-80 victory at the WPU Rec Center.
A great win needs great performances, and that is what the Valiants received from multiple players on the day. Senior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) scored 21 points in just 25 minutes due to foul trouble, while classmate Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) had another big day with 18 points and 12 rebounds to record his third double-double of the year.
Fellow seniors Ivan Jovicic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sports HS Belgrade) and Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) added 12 and 11 points, respectively, as four Valiants reached double figures. In addition, sophomores Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) and Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) both had eight points, with Bramswig also adding 10 rebounds, while senior Jeff Ventura (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cypress Bay) added five points and made several clutch plays down the stretch to secure the win.
The Pioneers, meanwhile, were essentially a two-man show for most of the game. Corey Chandler poured in a game-high 32 points and Lance Brown added 24 points and 13 rebounds, but the remainder of the team combined for just 24 points.
Down by eight at the half, Manhattanville came out firing to begin the second stanza, scoring 14 straight points to come all the way back and take a five-point lead at 38-33. Ventura completed the comeback with a three-pointer 2:17 into the frame, and Pointer followed on the next possession with a three of his own to put the Valiants up five with 3:09 elapsed in the half.
Amazingly, Manhattanville did not fall behind the rest of the way, but not due to a lack of trying on the part of the Pioneers. WPU tied the score three times after that point, the last coming on a pair of Joey Castro free throws with 13:50 on the clock.
The Valiants built their lead back up to 10 points with 10:53 remaining on a Jovicic trifecta, and still led by 10 with 3:22 remaining when Pointer came back into the game after nearly 10 minutes on the bench and sunk a pair of free throws. But William Paterson then made their late push, as a Brown layup and three straight Valiant turnovers resulted in a quick 8-0 run that brought the home team suddenly back within a bucket at 72-70 with 2:20 minutes to go.
What followed were a string of clutch possessions on both sides, as both teams scored on their next three trips down the floor. Pointer went to the line and sunk four free throws and Blackmon added a key layup to keep the Valiants ahead.
With the score 78-76, both teams missed on their subsequent possessions, and Blackmon eventually went to the line and connected on two more clutch free throws with 23 seconds left to again put the Valiants up by four.
William Paterson again came right down the court and scored on a Chandler layup, and the Valiants called timeout up by two (80-78) with 14 seconds left. Forced to foul, Ventura was sent to the line with 12 ticks left and calmly sunk both to continue the back-and-forth chess game.
After another Chandler bucket, Campbell was fouled this time and made one of two at the stripe, giving Manhattanville an 83-80 edge with six seconds on the clock. Down to one final possession, Ventura came up with a steal to not allow the Pioneers a game-tying chance and deal the home team its first loss of the year.
Neither team shot the ball well on the afternoon, but Manhattanville overcame a tough first half to shoot 55.2 percent (16 of 29) from the field and an excellent 22 of 28 (78.6 percent) from the line in the second half to pull out the victory. William Paterson finished the game at 39.2 percent (29 for 74) from the field, just below Manhattanville's 41.0 percent (25 for 61).
The first half started well for Manhattanville, as Pointer scored the team's first five points of the game to give the visitors a 5-2 edge 2:20 into the contest. But the Valiant offense went south after that, going more than six minutes without a point and nearly seven minutes between field goals.
By the time Jovicic sunk three free throws to end the Valiant scoreless stretch, William Paterson had already built up an early 14-5 lead; however, that lead could have been much worse if the Manhattanville defense hadn't held the home team to just 5-of-16 shooting stretch during the same time frame.
The Valiants managed to get all the way back to within a point with 7:18 remaining in the half on a jumper by Pointer. The Pioneers managed to regain a comfortable lead soon after, and yet the visitors still went into halftime with some confidence down just nine at 33-24, setting the stage for a second-half comeback.
Manhattanville (4-5) take two weeks off for finals and the holiday break before returning to action in Miami at the 2011 Adidas Holiday Slam, beginning on December 30 with a 7:30 p.m. matchup with fellow MAC member Messiah. William Paterson (8-1) will remain at home for a Friday night game against Lehman beginning at 6 p.m.