PURCHASE, N.Y. – Down by eight points with 2:04 to go in the first half, Manhattanville used a 24-4 run spanning the intermission to run away with an 81-69 victory over FDU-Florham in a crucial Freedom Conference men's basketball matchup on Thursday night at Kennedy Gym.
 
The win, combined with a Delaware Valley loss at DeSales, vaults Manhattanville (10-10, 6-3 Freedom) into a four-way tie for first place in the conference standings with Delaware Valley, DeSales and Misericordia. The hottest team in the conference with four straight victories, Manhattanville still faces off with all three of those teams before the end of the regular season.
 
It was another balanced scoring night for Manhattanville, with five players reaching double figures yet again. Sophomore Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) led the way with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting while adding six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle)had a good offensive showing with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, and junior Connor Quigley (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) was the third guard in double figures with 10 points and four assists.
 
The frontcourt tandem of senior Jack Bramswig (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) and sophomore Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons) had good games on both ends of the court as well. Bramswig had the game's only double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds along with a game-high five steals, and Camacho continued his recent resurgence with a season-high 17 points and eight caroms.
 
FDU-Florham (10-10, 5-4 Freedom) was led by Trevor Sykes with 21 points, five assists and three steals, followed by Kevin Furlong with 15 points and Will Green with 10.
 
The first half featured five ties and four lead changes and remained close for most of the frame before FDU-Florham used a lightning-quick 13-0 run that turned a 33-28 deficit into a 41-33 lead in the span of three minutes. Although Manhattanville could not regain the lead before halftime, the Valiants took all the momentum back with seven straight points to end the half, including a fadeaway three from Maestre that beat the buzzer and made it a 41-40 score in favor of the Devils at the half.
 
FDU shot 53.3 percent (16 for 30) in the first half, but Manhattanville was able to counter with 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) shooting from the beyond the arc and 46.4 percent (13 of 28) shooting overall to keep the game close. Bramswig was the Valiants' most important player in the opening frame, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the first half alone.
 
And just as Manhattanville ended the first half strong, the home team started the second half in the same manner, scoring 17 of the first 21 points to open up a 57-45 lead.  Camacho (seven) and Campbell (six) did most of the damage for the Valiants on the decisive run, which was capped by a Maestre bucket with 14:01 left.
 
Playing with a big lead, the Valiants did not let up on either end of the court, as the Devils could not get back within single digits the rest of the way. The lead reached as high as 16 (81-65) after a pair of Quigley free throws with 45 seconds left, putting a bow on the big Valiant victory.
 
Manhattanville finished the night shooting 52.7 percent (29 for 55) from the field and a sizzling 66.7 percent (8 of 12) from beyond the arc, while FDU hit only 1 of 11 three-pointers and 12 of 33 shots overall in the second half to finish at 44.4 percent (28 for 63) for the game.
 
Manhattanville will look for its fifth straight conference victory on Saturday, when the Valiants travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to take on Wilkes beginning at 3 p.m.