PURCHASE, N.Y. – It wasn't the prettiest of contests, especially on the offensive end of the court, but the end result still looked pretty good for the Manhattanville men's basketball team on Wednesday night, as the Valiants picked up a big 59-39 victory over FDU-Florham in Freedom Conference action at Kennedy Gymnasium.
The 35 points allowed by the Valiants are the fewest given up in a game in over two years, since Eastern managed just 35 points in another low-scoring affair in Purchase on January 23, 2010.
Senior Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) was one of the few players seemingly immune to the shooting struggles, as he led all scorers with 19 points and also hauled in seven rebounds. The senior passed Farid Johnson '04 for eighth place on the school's career scoring list with 1,433 points and now sits just five behind Gil Amoro '80 for the seventh spot all-time.
Classmate Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) also had a solid outing with eight rebounds, a team-leading nine rebounds and three blocks, while fellow senior Jack Railton-Woodcock (Melbourne, Australia/Scotch College) also was huge around the rim with four points, six rebounds and four big blocks in the first half alone. Another senior, Brian Bertucci (Gibbsboro, N.J./Solebury Prep), also did well in limited minutes with five points, five rebounds and a team-high three steals.
Will Green and Adam Katz both reached double figures in scoring for the Devils despite combining to shoot 7 of 23 from the field, as Green had 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while Katz also chipped in 12 points.
The first half was not an offensive exhibition by any means, as both teams had huge struggles putting the ball in the net. Manhattanville shot just 30.8 percent (8 of 26) from the field in the opening frame, and yet still had a 10-point lead at the break thanks to lowly 15.4 percent (4 of 26) shooting by the Devils.
FDU-Florham opened the game strong, outscoring Manhattanville by a 10-2 margin over the first six minutes; however, the visitors went ice cold after that, missing 19 of their next 20 shots from the field and all nine free throws the rest of the way. The Valiants by no means shot the lights out in contrast, but the 20-2 run to end the half was still more than good enough to put the Valiants up 22-12 at intermission.
The second half was very choppy, as the referees called the game very tightly. FDU-Florham was somewhat better shooting the ball in the frame, scoring 27 points on 7-of-28 shooting (25.0 percent), but the Valiants also had more good looks at the hoop and connected on 12 of 27 shots (44.4 percent) in the final 20 minutes of play.
FDU started the second half with a bit of a run, getting the lead down to eight points on a jumper by Mike Williamson with 16:39 to go, but Manhattanville came right back with a 14-0 run to balloon the lead up to 22 at 40-18 with 10:55 remaining. Pointer had seven points and classmate Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) added five for the home team during the run, which quelled any chance of a Devil comeback. The Valiant advantage never got below 14 points the rest of the way.
Manhattanville finished the night shooting just 37.7 percent (20 for 53) from the field, but it was more than enough on a night in which FDU-Florham connected on just 20.4 percent (11 of 54) of its shots from the field, including a woeful 1-of-17 clip from beyond the arc.
Manhattanville (10-10, 4-5 Freedom),which moves into a tie for fifth place with FDU in the conference standings with the win, looks to keep the momentum going on Saturday when the team travels to Wilkes for a 3 p.m. showdown with the Colonels. FDU-Florham (9-11, 4-5 Freedom) will host King's (Pa.) on Saturday at 3 p.m.