“It was a nice way to send our seniors out and a nice end to the regular season,” Head Coach Pat Scanlon said. “But we’re all well aware that next week is what we’ve been waiting for. We need to focus one game at a time and not look ahead if we want to get where we want to be.”
The 20-5 Valiants matched the 2001-02 team that went 20-9 for the most wins in program history. Manhattanville will get a chance to break that record Tuesday, February 20 when they open the Skyline Conference Tournament at home at 7:00 p.m. The Valiants will be either the first or second seed in the tournament, and will host a semifinal game February 22 if they win their opening game. The full tournament schedule will be announced once the rest of the conference finishes the regular season Saturday.
Thursday, the Valiants set a host of season-highs offensively, not the least of which was the 112 points scored, the second most in program history. The highest Manhattanville output came during the 1974-75 season when the Valiants beat Saint Lawrence 120-72. Manhattanville’s 61 first half points were also the second most in program history. The Valiants, who led 61-28 at halftime, also set season-highs in three-pointers made (14) and assists (33).
Starting a lineup that included seniors Ben Shapiro (Chappaqua, N.Y.), Will Garner (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Jovan Kandic (Belgrade, Serbia) and John DiBetta (Valhalla, N.Y.), the Valiants jumped ahead 15-2 in the first 3:13. Shaprio, Kandic (three-pointer) and Garner (three-pointer) hit baskets in succession to open the game and send the crowd into a frenzy. The seldom-used trio all had big nights in their final regular season home game, playing 66 combined minutes and scoring 24 points.
Kandic led the Valiants with 14 points and eight rebounds, connecting on 6-of-7 shots in his 23 minutes. Shapiro played a team-high 26 minutes and had four points to go along with career-highs of seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Garner played a career-high 17 minutes and scored a career-high six points on a pair of three-pointers.
DiBetta, 15th on Manhattanville’s all-time scoring list, took a back seat on this night, scoring six points and dishing out five assists in 18 minutes. Joe Cooke (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) had 13 off the bench, a career-high, freshman Angelo Laroche (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored a career-high 14 points and Brian Fink (Queens, N.Y.) scored 11 in just five minutes.
Manhattanville shot 56.0% from the field and 48.3% from three-point range, knocking in 14-of-29 attempts from long distance. The Valiants out-rebounded the Cyclones 51-34 and forced 19 Centenary (N.J.) turnovers, 13 in the first half. Alex Kuchar (Rutherford, N.J.) led the Cyclones (3-20, 1-14 Skyline) with 32 points.
The Valiants (20-5, 13-3 Skyline) will wait until Saturday to find out who their opponent will be in Tuesday’s Skyline Quarterfinal, scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for that game are available online now at www.GoValiants.com and can also be purchased on the day of the game at Kennedy Gym.