KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Jan. 7, 2023) – The USMMA men's basketball team made a statement of Saturday afternoon with a 66-57 win over conference rival Manhattanville. The victory was the Mariners' second straight to bring their record to 5-8 (3-1 Skyline), while the Valiants fell to 10-4 (3-2 Skyline) and saw their six-game winning streak go by the wayside.
Game Files
In their first game at Liebertz Gymnasium in 2023, Merchant Marine had the Valiants on the ropes for the entire first half. A full team effort allowed the Mariners to spread the ball around with precision and stay one step ahead offensively. USMMA came out flying and used a 12-0 run to blitz Manhattanville and jump into front 21-6 11:30 into the game.
Every option was available for head coach
Rob Pryor's squad, who successfully penetrated the Valiants' defense inside while also taking advantage of open looks from downtown. Junior
Josh Kauffman (East Providence, R.I.) and sophomore
Kody Robinson (Woodbridge, N.J) ignited the Mariners' long ball attack in the first half by going a combined 4-for-6 from distancing and tallying a total of 16 points.
Kauffman and Robinson's offensive output of 16 points was all Manhattanville could muster as a team in the opening 20 minutes. The Valiants headed to the locker room down 35-16 scratching their heads after a 5-for-25 first-half performance from the field. Merchant Marine's swarming defense forced the Valiants to go deep into the shot clock constantly on offense. Valiants' leading scorer Tommy Lotito was held to just two points in the opening half.
Coming into the game, Coach Pryor stressed the importance of keeping Manhattanville to the outside and making them earn each and every inch of space on the floor. His defense certainly answered the bell and put the Mariners in prime position at half up by 19.
The Valiants came into today's game at 10-3 for a reason and they showed Merchant Marine why as the second half got underway. A quick 4-0 run in 63 seconds gave Manhattanville life down 35-20. Head coach Chris Alesi's team came out with energy and speed, but that was quickly answered by triples from you guessed it, Kauffman and Robinson to propel USMMA to their largest lead of the game 43-23 with 15:41 remaining.
Back on their heels after another Robinson three, the Valiants called a timeout at 14:21 trailing 46-28. Whatever was said during the 30-second stoppage rejuvenated the Manhattanville offense as they ripped off 13-0 run. Up only by nine, the Mariners got an immediate response from senior
Brandon Bomboy (Yorktown, Va.) to restore his team's double-digit lead at 49-37.
Bomboy came through again two and a half later after Manhattanville had crept within six with two threes of their own. Despite the Valiants' offensive surge, they never got within one possession as USMMA showed clear signs of defensive growth from the beginning of the season. Coach Pryor's team came through in the clutch in all areas by grabbing key rebound after key rebound and making clutch shot after clutch shot.
The dagger of the day came from the man of the day, Kauffman. Up 60-53 with 70 seconds remaining the junior sniper delivered his fourth and final triple of the afternoon to extend USMMA's lead to 63-53. Kauffman ended the day with a season-high 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field and 4-for-8 from deep. USMMA shot 42.9% from long range for the game.
After defeating Sarah Lawrence 67-57 on Tuesday, the Mariners nearly won by the same score for the second straight game. Coach Pryor is content with a nine-point win you would imagine. Manhattanville's 57 points is their lowest scoring total versus a Skyline opponent this season.
Merchant Marine will look to make it three in a row on Wednesday, Jan. 11 when they head up to Newburgh, N.Y., to take on the Mount Saint Mary Knights. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Live stats and a live video feed of the game will be available with links on
the USMMA Men's Basketball Schedule Page.
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