Score: Manhattanville College 86, Elmira College 64
Records: Manhattanville (4-3), Elmira (1-5)
Location: Purchase, New York -- Kennedy Gymnasium

PURCHASE, N.Y. -- An approximately eight-minute-long first-half lull doomed the Elmira College men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon in Purchase, New York, as the Soaring Eagles were defeated by the host Manhattanville College Valiants, 86-64, inside the Kennedy Gymnasium.

The Soaring Eagles and Valiants went back-and-forth for the first 10 minutes of action. Jeremy Every '20 scored the first points of the game on a fastbreak lay-in, following a missed bucket on Manhattanville's first possession. Every and Justin Porrett '19 would combine for back-to-back baskets to give EC a narrow three-point lead, 10-7, at the 17:15 mark.

With the score knotted at 16-all, the Valiants began to pull away with a 7-4 run in a span of one-and-a-half minutes. However, after Joseph Amoddio '21 deposited a two-point lay-up at the 10:34 mark to trim the Manhattanville lead down to 23-20, the EC offense suffered through a cold spell that lasted until Anthony Abate '19 buried a 3-point field goal with 2:31 remaining in the opening half. During the drought, the Valiants built a 17-point lead. Despite another Abate trey inside the final minute, the Soaring Eagles trailed 44-26 at the intermission.

Elmira came within 14 points of the lead on three occasions in the second half, the latter of which came after a Hayden Harkins '18 3-pointer that made it a 54-40 score in favor of the hosts.

Abate paced the Purple and Gold with a season-high 12 points off of 5-of-7 shooting from the field (71.4 percent). Henry Cuffee '19 also reached double figures with 10 points in addition to eight rebounds and two blocks. Porrett scored nine points and hauled in a team-leading nine boards for EC, which shot 38.0 percent (27-of-71) from the field and 22.7 percentt (5-of-22) from beyond the arc. Manhattanville, on the other hand, finished with a 50.8 field-goal percentage (33-of-65), and was led in scoring by JoJo Cobbs and Alex Tuci with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

News and Notes

• Elmira falls to 1-5 on the season and Manhattanville improves to 4-3.
• With the win, the Valiants take a 3-2 lead in the all-time series vs. EC.
• Abate's 12 points, two makes from 3-point range and 71.4 field-goal percentage off of the bench are all season highs for the junior guard.
• Cuffee reached double figures for the fifth time in six games this season.
• Porrett tied his season high with nine rebounds.
• Amoddio made his first collegiate start against the Valiants.
• Andrew Ryan '21 scored two points in his rookie debut for the Soaring Eagles.
• Fellow freshman Jacob Funderburk '21 also made his debut.

Up Next
Elmira will look to rebound tomorrow afternoon, when the Soaring Eagles take on New York University in a non-conference showdown. Tip-off for Sunday's bout is slated for 1:00 p.m. at the Hunter College Sportsplex in Manhattan.