Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – Visiting Purchase College used its big size advantage in the paint to overwhelm the smaller Manhattanville squad and deal the Valiants their first loss of the year, an 81-72 decision in non-conference men's basketball action on Tuesday night at Kennedy Gymnasium.
 
The Panthers came into the game with a big edge in frontcourt size and used that to their full advantage, posting a huge 46-18 margin in points in the paint as well as a 43-30 edge in rebounding, which helped the visitors score 21 second-chance points to Manhattanville's nine.
 
John Pressley led all players in scoring with 20 points from the guard position, followed by Malik Atkins and Craig Davis with 14 each. Davis also added six rebounds to finish second on the team behind David Haughton, who had five points and a game-high 12 caroms.
 
Junior Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) had a second straight double-double for Manhattanville in a losing effort, scoring 11 points and adding 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Freshman Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) netted a team-leading 17 points, while sophomore Mike Murray (Queens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) chipped in a career-high 11 points as well off the bench.
 
The first half was evenly matched for the first nine minutes before Purchase slowly started to increase its lead, using an 11-2 run to take a 27-19 lead with 8:07 left on a tip-in by Michael Braithwaite. The Panther lead grew to as many as 13 at the conclusion of the half, as Andre Nixon sunk a free throw with two seconds left to give the visitors a 48-35 edge at the break.
 
Purchase shot 47.5 percent (19 for 40) from the field in the first half compared to just 33.3 percent (10 for 30) for Manhattanville, and also posted huge edges in points in the paint (30-6) and second-chance points (17-4).
 
The second half was a frustrating 20 minutes of basketball for Manhattanville, as the Valiants got within six points on multiple occasions but could never get enough stops to keep Purchase at bay.
 
Manhattanville started the second frame with a quick 9-2 run to get back within six, as Bramswig had four points while sophomore Wills Flynn (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian) added a three-pointer and Murray capped the run with a bucket of his own. But Pressley hit a big three from the corner to quell the Valiant momentum, then added another three and saw Amar Reynolds hit one of his own to immediately get the Purchase lead back up to 15 at 59-44.
 
The Valiants came right back with nine straight points to get back within six again, starting with a Bramswig layup and ending with a lay-in by graduate student Craig Augustine (Citrus, Fla./Citrus), but a Davis layup and a Pressley dunk upped the lead back to 10. After back-to-back buckets from Flynn and junior Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle), Pressley again killed the momentum with another huge three that put Purchase up nine (66-57) with 7:32 left.
 
Manhattanville did not get any closer than seven points for the remainder of the contest, as they could not string together enough defensive stops and quality scoring chances at the other end.
 
The Valiants finished the night shooting 42.0 percent (21 for 50) from the field, while also struggling mightily from the charity stripe (21 for 36, 58.3 percent). Purchase connected at a 48.4 percent (31 for 64) clip from the field.
 
Manhattanville (2-1) will take the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving before getting back on the court on Monday at 7 p.m. at Mount Saint Mary.