HUNTINGTON, PA – Corey Baker (Granby, MA/Granby) scored a game-high 22 points and Kevin Townes (Lagrangeville, NY/Our Lady of Lourdes) contributed 18 but it wasn't enough as Manhattanville topped Hartwick's men's basketball team 87-79 on Thursday at the Juniata Holiday Tournament played at Memorial Gymnasium in Huntington, PA.
           
The Hawks slip to 2-4 on the season with the Valiants improving to 5-3. Hartwick now plays in tomorrow's consolation game against either Penn State Abington or host Juniata.
           
Baker shot 8-of-15 from the floor and connected on 3-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc. He added four rebounds. Townes made five of his 20 shots and four of 11 attempts from three-point range. He would also accumulate six rebounds and four assists.
           
Brandon LaForest (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) and Justin Carruthers (Greenwich, NY/Greenwich) each scored nine points for the Hawks. LaForest also had seven boards and four assists with Carruthers making all four of his field-goal attempts in the game. Marc du Moulin (Altamont, NY/Guilderland) grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds.
           
The Hawks would hold the upper hand for the opening 13 minutes of action, leading by as much as six points. The game went back and forth for the rest of the half with multiple tie scores and lead changes before a Manhattanville layup with eight seconds left pushed the Valiants ahead, 41-39, at the break.
           
Manhattanville maintained a slim lead early in the second half before Tom Ammendola's (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) free throws put the Hawks up 49-47 with 14:39 to go. Three more ties occurred before a Valiant layup with 10:26 left put them up for good. The advantage would grow to as many as nine before Townes' free throws trimmed the margin to two, 78-76, with 3:51 left on the clock.  
           
Manhattanville scored the next five points for a seven-point edge over the next minute and a half and Hartwick got no closer than six the rest of the contest.
           
The Valiants received 21 points apiece from Dom Arena and Sean Smith. The pair combined to shoot 19-for-26 from the field to go along with 11 rebounds, and four assists. Brian Haggerty contributed 13 points, Jojo Cobbs added 11 points, and Alex Tuci pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds.
           
The Valiants shot 55% from the floor in the game while holding the Hawks to only 37%. 'Wick managed to hit 12 three-pointers. The Hawks were out-rebounded 45-38.
           
The consolation game between the Hawks and either the Nittany Lions and Eagles tomorrow will tip at 2 p.m.