PURCHASE, N.Y. – Senior forward Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) led four Valiants in double figures with a career-high 19 points as the Manhattanville men's basketball moved into a four-way tie for third place in the Freedom Conference with an 80-69 victory over King's (Pa.) College on Saturday afternoon at Kennedy Gymnasium.

Blackmon had his way inside for the Valiants in the victory, shooting 8 of 12 from the field and going 3 for 3 from the line on the way to a career-high point total, while also hauling in four rebounds. Classmate Jeff Ventura (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cypress Bay) exploded for all of his 17 points in the second half, hitting all six of his shots (including five trifectas) in the final 20 minutes of play, while sophomore Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) played well off the bench and ended up with 13 points and six rebounds.

Senior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) also had a solid overall game for the Valiants in the win, scoring 10 points and dishing out a career-high eight assists to go with three rebounds and a block.

Tim O'Shea led King's with 22 points off the bench, connecting on 9 of 14 shots from the field, while Kyle Stackhouse added 15 points as well for the visitors.

After King's scored six of the first points of the game, Manhattanville came back to take its first lead of the game with 4:34 gone by on a jumper from Pointer. The teams alternated leads for the next few minutes until a three-pointer by Campbell put the home team back up by a pair with 12:23 left in the half. The Valiants quickly went on an 8-0 run soon after to extend its lead to 10 at 27-17, ending the run on a fast-break layup by freshman Mike Murray (Glendale, N.Y./St. Francis Prep).

Manhattanville maintained its lead for the rest of the half, getting it up to as many as 11 (37-26) on a pair of Pointer free throws with 2:45 left before five straight Monarch points concluded the frame. In the opening half, the Valiants shot 42.4 percent (14 for 33) while King's connected at a 11-for-27 clip (40.7 percent).

Ventura took over the game for Manhattanville to start the second half, connecting on four straight three-pointers to up the Valiant lead to 12 at 49-37 with 3:17 expired in the frame. After a second-chance putback by sophomore Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) gave the home team a 14-point edge, Blackmon scored nine of the team's next 12 points himself to maintain the advantage at the midway point of the half.

Then Ventura got into the act again, draining another three and then driving to the hoop for a transition bucket that gave Manhattanville its biggest lead of the game at 70-51 with 7:08 left. The Valiants let the lead get below double figures just once the rest of the way, and freshman Wills Flynn (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian) responded with a pair of free throws with 28 seconds that got the lead back up to 11 and accounted for the final score of the afternoon.

Manhattanville for the game connected on 47.5 percent (29 for 61) of its shots, including going 10 for 19 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc, while King's finished the day shooting 41.3 percent (26 for 63). The Valiants also had a big edge on the glass, outrebounding the Monarchs by a 42-30 margin.

Manhattanville (9-8, 3-3 Freedom) will return to action on Wednesday, when the Valiants travel to perennial conference contender DeSales for an 8 p.m. matchup. King's (8-9, 3-3 Freedom) will host Misericordia on Wednesday at 8 p.m.