MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Coming off their first loss the season, the Wesleyan men's basketball team bounced back in a big way at home, defeating Manhattanville 74-60 on Thursday night from Silloway Gymnasium. The Cardinals (8-1) were led by
Sam Peek '22 who finished one off his career-high with 25 points in tonight's win over the Valiants (4-5).
Manhattanville had the hot hand early, banging in a pair of three-pointers just 1:14 into the game to take the 6-0 lead, only to see the Cardinals respond with 13 unanswered points as five different Wesleyan players scored in the 13-0 run.
The two sides traded baskets for a few minutes before Peek hit back-to-back triples and continued his personal 8-0 run with a floating jumper in traffic that suddenly gave Wesleyan a double-digit advantage at 25-15. Wesleyan's lead grew to as many as 16 points in the first half before the Valiants closed the frame with with an 8-2 run that closed the gap down to 39-29 at halftime.
Coming out of the break, Wesleyan was humming as the Cardinals scored the first eight points of the second half as
Jordan James '22 had a pair of dunks followed by a
Preston Maccoux '23 turnaround jumper in the paint that made it 47-29.
Jordan James '22 throws down a monstrous dunk in the second half
Peek gave the Cardinals their biggest lead at 54-34 with a three-point make in transition but Manhattanville continued to hang in as the visitors scored seven straight points to close the margin down to 13 with 14:13 remaining.
The 13-point margin, however, was as close as the Valiants would get to the lead as Wesleyan rebuilt its 20-point advantage a few minutes later before closing out the 74-60 victory to move to 8-1 on the season.
Peek scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the second half as he finished 11-for-17 from the floor and 3-of-7 from deep while adding nine rebounds in his 34 minutes of action.
Maccoux posted a phenomenal all-around game as the junior supplied 15 points (5-11 FG) with a career-high nine assists and six rebounds in 34 minutes while also being a +25 when on the floor. The nine assists easily surpassed his previous career-best of six as he now leads the team with 36 assists (4.0 per game) through nine games this season.
Preston Maccoux '23 stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, career-high nine assists and six rebounds
James was the remaining Cardinal who hit double figures as he went for 11 points with five rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes.
Nicky Johnson '25 added nine points, three assists and two steals in his first career start.
Shackylle Dezonie '23 came off the bench tallied four points, eight rebounds and three assists in just 21 minutes.
Jake Dunn and Jackson Leech led the Valiants with 12 points apiece while Tommy Lotito posted 10 points with six assists and four steals.
Wesleyan is right back in action on Saturday with a trip to Farmingdale State. Tip-off is set for 3 PM in what is the Cardinals' final game before winter break.
