Kings Point, NY (Jan. 11, 2017) – Purchase men's basketball posted back-to-back wins Wednesday night, toppling the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 76-57.

The victory followed Saturday's victory at Sarah Lawrence. The Panthers are now 9-4 overall, including 3-2 in conference play, while improving to 2-1 in the New Year. Purchase was on-point at the Liebertz Gymnasium, dropping the Mariners to 4-10 and 1-5, respectively.

The two teams exchanged leads early and the Mariners held a two-point advantage, 8-6, just over five minutes in. The Panthers used the next eight minutes to build up a double-digit lead, 23-13, at 6:04.

Despite Merchant Marine cutting the deficit back down to eight shortly after, Purchase went on a 16-5 run over four minutes late in the first, fueled by four three-pointers to take a 39-20 lead. The Panthers led 39-22 at the break.

Four players scored in double-figures for Purchase, with Brian Berrios (JR/New York, NY) and Deshawn Cann (SO/Queens, NY) tying for the game-high with 14 points apiece.

Cann also registered a double-double with 11 rebounds, while also dishing out five-assists to lead all players. Kewan Beebe (JR/Glen Cove, NY) added 13 off the bench and classmate Nikeem Deleon (JR/Bronx, NY) chipped in 10.

The Mariners battled back to within 13 points early in the second half, but the Panther lead hit 20 points at 15:22 and only fell below 20 again once late in the half.

David Washington led the way for USMMA with a double-double effort – draining 12 points, while matching the game-high of 11 rebounds. Drew Thorpe recorded the first double-digit scoring effort of his career with 11 points, all coming in the second half.  

-USMMA Sports Information Contributed to this report