PURCHASE, N.Y. – Senior Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) scored a game-high 23 points to become the 25th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points, but it was not enough as the Manhattanville College men's basketball team suffered a tough 71-69 defeat to Delaware Valley College in Freedom Conference action on Wednesday night at Kennedy Gymnasium.
Maestre was the bright spot on the night for Manhattanville, reaching quadruple figures with a free throw to complete a three-point play with 10:11 left in the second half. The junior achieved the feat in just 65 career games, making him the fourth-fastest in program history to reach the milestone. He added a three later in the contest to move him into a tie for 24th all-time at the school in scoring with 1,003 points.
Junior Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons) added 15 points and senior Wills Flynn(Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian) chipped in a season-high 11 points as well for Manhattanville (5-9, 1-2 Freedom). Francis Arnold scored a team-best 20 points, helped along by 17 points from Nick Sullivan and a nine-point, 11-rebound effort from Barry Brockington off the bench for Delaware Valley (8-6, 3-0 Freedom).
After Delaware Valley built up a 48-41 lead with 3:54 gone by in the second half, Manhattanville stormed back with a 15-3 run to take a 56-51 lead at the midway mark, with Maestre's 1,000th point completing the big run. The Valiants extended their lead to as many as nine points (64-55) with 5:47 remaining, following a free throw from freshmanTimmy McCauley (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) and a Maestre three-pointer.
Camacho connected on a layup with give the Valiants a 66-58 lead with 5:10 left, but the offense dried up for the home team after that. Manhattanville missed its next 10 field goals as the Aggies went on a decisive 13-1 run to re-take control of the game, with only a meaningless last-second bucket from junior Andrew Winter (Queens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) breaking the streak. Sullivan had a pair of threes during the run, with the big blow a three from Chris Moran with 1:19 left that made it a two-possession game.
Manhattanville struggled shooting the ball in the second half, hitting just 10 of 32 shots to finish the night at 36.1 percent (22 of 61) from the field. Delaware Valley overcame 45.0 percent shooting at the charity stripe thanks to 27-of-57 shooting (47.4 percent) from the field, including an 8-of-18 effort from beyond the arc.
The Valiants managed to take care of the ball offensively, committing a season-low seven turnovers while converting 18 Aggie miscues into 15 points, but the home team was done in partially by DelVal's 50-30 edge in the glass.
Manhattanville will look to get back to .500 in conference play on Saturday, when the Valiants welcome Misericordia University to Kennedy Gym for a 3 p.m. tipoff.