MADISON, N.J. – Freshman Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) led all scorers with 24 points to lead the Manhattanville men's basketball team to a very important 63-60 victory over FDU-Florham in Freedom Conference action on Wednesday night at the Ferguson Rec Center.

With the win, Manhattanville (9-11, 3-6 Freedom) stays very much alive in the race for the postseason, as the Valiants are now just one game back of FDU-Florham (9-11, 4-5 Freedom) and King's (Pa.) for the fourth and final playoff spot with five games still to go.

Maestre was the offensive star for the Valiants on the night, hitting 9 of 18 shots – including an excellent 6-of-8 mark from beyond the arc – in the win. Junior Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) came off the bench to chip in 12 points and classmate Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) added 10 and eight rebounds as well.

Will Green led FDU-Florham with 19 points and 11 rebounds for the game's only double-double, followed by Mike Williamson with 16 points.

FDU-Florham scored the opening basket of the night on a Derek Hall layup and never fell behind for the remainder of the opening half, although the Valiants hung with the Devils for most of the opening 20 minutes.

The Devils built their lead up to as many as 11 (22-11) with exactly 10 minutes to go on a pair of free throws by Kevin Furlong, but an old-fashioned three-point play from Bramswig and a Maestre three-pointer quickly halved the advantage. The Valiants cut the lead to two points on three separate occasions late in the frame, but had to settle for a four-point deficit (35-31) at the break.

Maestre was the only consistent offensive option for Manhattanville in the opening frame, scoring 14 points thanks to 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Williamson also had 14 in the first 20 minutes for FDU-Florham, thanks to a perfect 4-of-4 mark from three-point land.

The Devils as a team shot 13 for 25 (52.0 percent) in the first half, while the Valiants connected at a 37.9 percent (11 for 29) clip.

Manhattanville opened the second half with seven straight points to grab its first lead of the evening, as a Maestre three was followed by back-to-back jumpers from sophomore Mike Murray (Queens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and Maestre again to make it 38-35 with 17:36 to go.

The lead see-sawed back and forth six times over the next nine minutes, as neither team was able to pull away. However, Manhattanville strung together an 8-2 run to open up its biggest lead of the game, a 56-51 advantage with 5:25 left on the clock.

The Devils battled back to knot the score at 58 on Williamson's only field goal of the second half, but Bramswig responded with a huge three to give Manhattanville the lead back with 2:36 to go. Campbell then countered a Green layup with a bucket of his own to give the visitors their three-point edge again with less than two minutes remaining,

Although Manhattanville did not score the rest of the way, the Valiants were able to hold onto their lead thanks to some solid defense, including a big charge taken by graduate student Craig Augustine (Citrus, Fla./Citrus) in the final minute. Williamson had one last chance to tie the score with the clock running down, but his three from the wing bounced off the back iron and the Valiants emerged victorious.

The Valiants shot 13 of 27 (48.1 percent) in the second half to finish at 42.9 percent (24 for 56) for the night. The team actually shot the ball better from beyond the arc (7 of 16) than both from inside the arc (17 of 40) and from the charity stripe (8 of 19). FDU-Florham cooled off considerably in the second half, hitting 7 of 23 shots overall and missing all eight attempts from three-point range to finish at 41.7 percent (20 for 48) for the game.

Manhattanville will return home to Kennedy Gym on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Wilkes, as the Valiants welcome all basketball alumni back to campus for Alumni Day while also supporting breast cancer research with Think Pink Day. The game will also be video streamed live on GoValiants.TV beginning at approximately 2:55 p.m.