PURCHASE, N.Y. – Senior Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) and sophomore Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) each netted a game-high 19 points to lead five Valiants in double figures as the Manhattanville College men's basketball team picked up a huge 81-74 win over MAC Freedom frontrunner Delaware Valley University on Wednesday night at Kennedy Gymnasium.
 
The win keeps Manhattanville (12-8, 5-4 MAC Freedom) in a three-way tie for third place in the conference with Misericordia University and Wilkes University, with the three teams now one game back of DeSales University for second place and two games back of first-place Delaware Valley (16-4, 7-2 MAC Freedom).
 
The Valiants got contributions from everyone on the court in the victory. Maestre had 19 points and four assists in 37 minutes, while Arena had a game-high five assists to go with his career-high 19 points. Senior Andrew Winter(Queens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) picked up his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 boards, and sophomore Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) just missed another double-double of his own with 11 points and nine caroms. Sophomore Chris Ayson (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) also added a spark off the bench with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
 
The last time five Valiants reached double figures in scoring also happened to come in Manhattanville's last victory over the Aggies, which came on September 18, 2014 at Kennedy Gym.
 
Freshman Willie Britton (Queens, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) got the same started with a jumper to put the home team up 2-0, and Manhattanville managed to lead nearly wire-to-wire against the top team in the conference. The only blip came after a 6-0 run gave Delaware Valley a 10-9 lead with 14:38 left in the first half, but that was promptly followed up by a Tuci free throw and a layup from sophomore Timmy Quinlan (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys) that put the Valiants up 12-10.
 
The Aggies managed to tie the score three more times in the first half, the last coming after a Tyrea Williams dunk knotted the game at 30 with 4:40 on the clock. But Maestre hit two free throws and Ayson followed with a steal and a score to give the Valiants a lead they would never relinquish.
 
Manhattanville shot 50 percent both from the field (14 of 28) and from beyond the arc (6 of 12) in the first half to take control of the game, while also hitting 8-of-10 shots from the charity stripe.
 
The Valiants scored the first five points of the second half to build up its biggest lead of the night, as a Britton bucket put the home team up 47-36 with 1:01 gone by in the stanza. The Aggies hung around, however, and eventually used an 8-0 run to get within one at 71-70 with 3:23 left.
 
After the two teams traded free throws to keep it a one-point game, Manhattanville finished on an 8-2 run to close out the Aggies. Maestre hit a quick transition layup to make it a 75-72 game, and that was followed by two Winter freebies to make the score 77-72 with 2:33 left. Arena then ended things with the team's final four points, including a free throw with 17 seconds left that accounted for the final score.
 
On the game, Manhattanville shot 45.0 percent (27 of 60) from the field and 9 of 21 (42.9 percent) from beyond the arc, in addition to hitting 18-of-25 attempts (72.0 percent) from the line. Delaware Valley shot 42.9 percent (27 of 63) from the field, but just 28.0 percent (7 of 25) from three-point land.
 
Manhattanville will look to keep the momentum going on Saturday, when the team travels to King's (Pa.) College for a 3 p.m. tipoff with the Monarchs.