PURCHASE, N.Y. – Led by a career-high 22 points from junior Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons), the Manhattanville College men's basketball team regained local bragging rights in the Battle of Anderson Hill Road with a 70-65 victory over neighboring Purchase College in non-conference action on Wednesday night at Kennedy Gymnasium.
 
Camacho came up huge for Manhattanville (1-2) in the victory, shooting 9-of-13 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line to go with two assists, two blocks and a steal. He also provided the highlight of the night (and perhaps the year) with a thunderous dunk over PC's Julian Wright with less than a minute left in the first half.
 
Junior Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) also had a solid game with 18 points, six rebounds, a game-high six assists and two steals, while freshman Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) also reached double figures for the first time in his young career with 13 points to go with five boards and three steals. Junior Darius Christmas (Hackensack, N.J./Paramus Catholic) also provided a spark off the bench with eight points and three assists for the Valiants.
 
Taylor Foster paced Purchase (0-3) with a team-high 20 points and just missed a double-double with nine boards and four assists. Kendall Felix also came one point short of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds, and Jose Reyes added 11 points for the visitors as well.
 
The first half featured seven ties and six lead changes, as both teams battled to gain the early edge. Neither team led by more than a bucket for most of the frame until Manhattanville rattled off the final nine points of the half to take a 32-23 lead into intermission. Maestre broke the final tie of the night with a pair of free throws and then added a layup before Camacho's gym-rocking dunk made it a 29-23 game with 51 seconds left. Camacho completed the three-point play to extend the lead and Tuci made it a nine-point advantage with a layup just before the buzzer.
 
Manhattanville shot 44.8 percent (13 of 29) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, and led in fast-break points 10-0 as part of its early lead. Camacho (13) and Maestre (10) combined to single-handedly match Purchase's score in the first half.
 
Purchase made a couple runs in the second half, but the Valiants turned the Panthers aside at each opportunity. A Maestre tip-in and a three from senior Connor Quigley (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) made it an 37-26 lead less than five minutes into the second half, but the Panthers got the lead down to two following a Reyes three with 12:14 left. But Tuci immediately responded with a layup on the other end and that was followed by a Christmas three and a Camacho bucket to quickly make it a 46-37 lead.
 
The Valiant lead grew to as many as 14 on three occasions in the second half, the last coming on a pair of Camacho freebies that made it a 62-48 score with 4:15 remaining. A Purchase press resulted in some Valiant turnovers and nine straight PC points to make it a five-point game with 2:09 left, but Maestre went 6-for-6 from the line as the Valiants held on for their first victory of the season.
 
Manhattanville finished the night shooting 41.2 percent (24 of 57) from the field, compared to just 35.3 percent (24 of 68) for Purchase. The Valiants also did their job from the line, connecting on 16 of 21 free throws.
 
Having earned back local bragging rights for the 12th time in the last 14 games, Manhattanville will remain at Kennedy Gym this weekend, as the Valiants host the annual AJ Buchanan Classic on Friday and Saturday. NYU and Sage will kick off the weekend on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by Manhattanville and Brooklyn scheduled for an 8 p.m. tipoff.