PURCHASE, N.Y. – Four Valiant players scored in double figures as the Manhattanville men's basketball team knocked William Paterson University from the ranks of the unbeaten with an efficient 67-54 victory over the Pioneers in non-conference action on Sunday afternoon at Kennedy Gymnasium.
Junior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas) had a game-high 18 points for Manhattanville despite battling foul trouble, thanks in large part to 7-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line. Classmate Glen Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico) had 14 points and seniors Lamar Glass (Dallas, Texas) and Peter Mehmel (Queens, N.Y.) added 10 apiece for the home team, while fellow senior Jay Ferriere (Melbourne, Australia) chipped in a season-high eight assists as well.
William Paterson was led by Paul Siljee (13 points and Gabriel Paul (11 points), but the varied Valiant offensive threat was enough to overcome the Pioneers and hand them their first loss of the season.
Neither team had much of an edge in the shooting department, as Manhattanville connected on 46.2 percent (24 for 52) of its shots from the field while William Paterson ended up at 46.3 percent (19 for 41). The Valiants also hit 5 of 13 attempts from long range and held on to the game late by nailing 14-of-19 shots from the charity stripe.
With the shooting percentages nearly identical, the Manhattanville bench played a big role in the victory, as led by Rodriguez the home bench outscored their counterparts by a 22-4 margin. The Valiants also forced 25 William Paterson turnovers and converted them into 26 points in earning the win.
Manhattanville scored the first five points of the contest, beginning with a three-pointer from Glass 56 seconds in and ending on a pair of free throws by Pointer, as the Pioneers were held off the scoresheet for the first 3:49 of the game. The Valiants held a lead for most of the opening frame, before a 10-2 run by William Paterson late in the half gave the visitors their first lead of the contest. However, a jumper by Glass with 30 seconds left evened the score at 27-all, and the teams went into the half knotted up.
The home team again came out of the break quickly to start the second, as a Mehmel lay-in and an old-fashioned three-pointer play by Pointer gave the Valiants the lead once again. After Siljee tied the score at 32-32 with a bucket from close range, the Valiant defense kicked in and kept WPU off the scoreboard for more than four minutes; meanwhile, a three from junior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla.) punctuated an 8-0 run that gave the Valiants a 40-32 edge with 12:07 remaining.
William Paterson got the lead down to four on a pair of occasions, but the home team came right back with a Ferriere three-pointer and a three-point play from Rodriguez to get the lead up to double digits for the first time at 50-40 with 6:29 left on the clock.
The Valiant lead got down to seven points with 1:55 remaining, but Manhattanville scored on seven of its last eight possessions to keep the Pioneers at bay and pick up their fourth victory of the season.
Manhattanville (4-1, 0-0 Freedom) will now gear up for the all-important Freedom Conference slate starting this week, as the Valiants begin the conference year with a big meeting with defending champion DeSales University on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Kennedy Gym. The game will be video streamed live online at GoValiants.TV starting at 6:50 p.m.