Purchase, NY (Jan. 8, 2019) – Purchase men's basketball worked their way back to .500 in overall and Skyline Conference play Tuesday evening with a 72-43 win at home over the Maritime College Privateers (2-10, 1-6 Skyline).

Purchase (6-6, 4-4 Skyline) played with a double-digit lead for the entire second half to extend its head-to-head win streak against Maritime to five.

Panther senior Willie Britton (Queens, NY) spearheaded the win, recording his first double-double of the season along the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds. 

Junior guard Elijah Lott (East Greenbush, NY) picked up his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds, to go along with a game-best 9 assists. Senior center Mike Felix (Goshen, NY) contributed 12 points and two blocks, while senior captain Michael Soffer (Agoura Hills, CA) and sophomore guard Jorge Perdomo (Bronx, NY) rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively. 

Purchase took control of the game early, jumping out to a 20-6 advantage seven minutes into the first half. Maritime chipped away at the Panther lead to come within three points (20-17) of closing the gap with just over 10 minutes left in the stanza, but Purchase rallied with a 17-8 run to take a 37-25 halftime advantage.

Soffer fueled the Purchase offense in the opening 20 minutes with 11 points, while eight boards from Lott paved the way for the PC defense.

Purchase continued to connect in the second half. The Panthers stretched their lead to 21 points with a 6-0 run to open the period, and with 14 minutes remaining, Lott drove in another two with a dunk. (watch highlight)

Maritime came within 12 points (53-41) on a Ryan Donovan three-pointer but the rally was short-lived as Purchase connected on seven of its next 12 possessions. The Panthers closed with the largest lead of the evening (29) to secure the 72-43 Skyline victory.

In the end, Purchase connected on 40.8 percent (29-of-71) from the field, 36.4 percent (8-of-22) from 3-point range and 60 percent (6-of-10) from the free-throw line.  By comparison, Maritime hit on 27.9 percent (17-of-61) from the floor, 21.4 percent (6-of-28) from beyond the arc and 75 percent (3-of-4) from the charity stripe.  

Purchase won the boards battle, 49-38, scoring eight second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds. The Panthers converted 17 Privateer turnovers into 17 points and held the advantage in assists (17-10), steals (8-3), points in the paint (36-16) and fast break points (26-7).  The Privateers outplayed the Panthers in bench points (30-10) and blocks (4-2).

The Panthers are back at home again this Thursday at 8 p.m. to take on Skyline foe Farmingdale State.