PURCHASE, NY - The Purchase College men's basketball team earned a hard-fought win Tuesday night, as the Panthers topped the Lightning of Lehman College, 93-85, in a non-conference matchup.

With the victory, Purchase has now won two straight and are 2-4 on the year. For the Lightning, the guests dropped to 1-4.

Just like their first win of the season this past weekend, the Panthers lead start-to-finish Tuesday evening. Overall, they held the advantage for 39 minutes and 34 seconds out of possible 40 minutes, with the missing 26 seconds representing the 0-0 tie to start the game. 

In the opening half, the Panthers were ahead by 4-8 points much of the first ten minutes, before finally grabbing a double-digit lead with just over 10 minutes to go. Over the next four minutes, Purchase extended its dominance to as many as 17 points, before Lehman battled back.

The Lightning used a 12-4 run to close out the first frame, cutting the deficit to single digits, as Lehman trailed 41-32 at halftime.

Purchase had answers of its own to begin the second half though and most of them involved great shooting.

Over the final 20 minutes, Purchase went 18-for-28 from the field and 4-for-7 from three-point range, and pushed its lead to as many as 20 points with just 12 minutes remaining. At that point, with that kind of lead and the way they were shooting, the Panthers looked as if they were going to cruise to another win.

Lehman had other ideas though.

During the next 10 minutes, thanks to great shooting of their own, the Lightning embarked on a 31-16 run to cut the Panthers' lead down to just five points, 85-80, with 1:21 remaining in the game. 

However, that was as close as the guests got the rest of the way, as they eventually ran out of time and Purchase closed the game out with clutch free throw shooting. 

On the night, Purchase shot 53% overall and 42% from three. Lehman was also just as good, finishing with marks of 52% and 46% respectively.

Rebounds were nearly identical between the two squads, while Purchase was slightly better handling the ball, finishing with 15 turnovers to Lehman's 18. However, it was what the Panthers did off the turnovers and fastbreak chances that made the difference in the win.

Purchase finished with a 29-17 edge in points off turnovers and a 22-12 advantage in fastbreak points. Lehman did win the bench and second-chance points categories, but weren't able to make up the difference elsewhere. 

After a two-game absence, Elijah Lott (JR/Albany, NY) returned to collect a game-high 28 points, eight assists and five rebounds. While Lott led the way, four other players scored double-digit point totals for the Panthers.

Jorge Perdomo (JR/Bronx, NY) finished with 18 points, Maxx Miller (SR/White Plains, NY) added 15 points, Kyle Menard (SO/Paramus, NJ) tallied 13 points and Elijah Harris (SR/Flushing, NY) recorded 12 points. 

For Lehman, four players finished with 10 or more points, as Isaiah Geathers (JR/Brooklyn, NY) led the way with 24 points in the effort.

Up next for the Panthers is a 10-day rest over the Thanksgiving holiday break, before returning to the court to face Hamilton College on December 7th at home. That contest is set for 1 p.m. and you can follow it here.