ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Junior Connor Quigley (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) made another huge late-game three-pointer and sophomore Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) complemented his team-high 20 points with a game-saving defensive stand in the waning seconds as the Manhattanville men's basketball team won its third straight Freedom Conference game with a 76-74 victory over Eastern on Saturday afternoon at Eagle Gym.

With its third straight conference victory, Manhattanville (9-10, 5-3 Freedom) moves into a four-way tie for second place in the Freedom Conference standings, just one game behind first-place Delaware Valley with six games still to go.

Manhattanville looked to be in very good shape with five minutes remaining, as a layup from senior Colin Campbell (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) gave the visitors a seemingly commanding 73-61 lead. But Eastern (7-12, 1-7 Freedom) stormed back with a 13-0 run to amazingly take back the lead with 44 seconds remaining, with the go-ahead points coming from Jordan Diggs at the free-throw line after an ill-advised foul.

But after a timeout, the Valiants exposed the Eagle zone defense by working the ball around the perimeter for Quigley, who launched a wide-open three that hit nothing but net with 23 seconds remaining. Needing to play defense one last time, Maestre hounded Austin Carroll in the frontcourt and knocked the ball away as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Maestre had an excellent game for the Valiants, securing eight rebounds and adding five steals and four assists to go with his 20 points. Senior Jack Bramswig(Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) added 18 rebounds and eight assists, while sophomore Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons) had his best game in recent weeks with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Campbell also reached double figures with 12 points in addition to a game-high five assists.

Malcolm Garrison scored the first basket of the game and Eastern led for most of the first 12 minutes before two free throws and a layup by Bramswig put the visitors ahead. The Valiants took a six-point lead into halftime at 42-36 thanks to a layup by junior Sean Sampson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Kent School) with 14 seconds remaining, two of the team's 24 first-half points in the paint.

The visitors remained comfortably ahead for most of the second half until Eastern made its one huge run at the end of the contest, but the Valiants made all the key plays in the final 30 seconds to secure the big conference victory.

For the game, Manhattanville shot 29 of 66 (43.9 percent) from the field and 7 of 16 (43.8 percent) from beyond the arc, figures that were almost matched by Eastern (43.6 percent from the field, 40.0 percent from three).

Manhattanville will look to make it four in a row in Wednesday night, when the Valiants host FDU-Florham in another important Freedom Conference battle at Kennedy Gym starting at 8 p.m. The game will be video streamed live on GoValiants.TV starting at approximately 7:55 p.m.