Box Score

Purchase, NY (Nov. 20, 2012) – Score the latest chapter of the “Battle of Anderson Hill Road” for Purchase.

The men's basketball team used its big size advantage in the paint to overwhelm host Manhattanville Tuesday night, dealing the Valiants 81-72 loss at Kennedy Gymnasium.

Purchase stayed perfect at 3-0, handing Manhattanville (2-1) its first loss of the season.
 
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 (SR/New York, NY) led all players in scoring with 20 points from the guard position, followed by Malik Atkins (SO/Bronx, NY) and Craig Davis (SR/Queens, NY), with 14 each. Davis also added six rebounds to finish second on the team behind forward David Haughton (JR/Greenburgh, NY), who had five points and a game-high 12 caroms.
 
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 (JR/Queens, NY). The Panther lead grew to as many as 13 at the conclusion of the half, as Andre Nixon (JR/Harlem, NY) 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.

The Panthers won the Regis Tip-Off Tourney over the weekend and added another big time non-conference victory to their record Tuesday night, avenging consecutive defeats to neighboring rival Manhattanvile the past two seasons, which included a loss to the Valiants at Madison Square Garden two years ago.

-Manhattanville Sports Information Contributed to this report