The Maritime College men's basketball team couldn't pull out its second straight home win on Wednesday night against Purchase College as they fell 75-59. The Privateers completed their season sweep of USMMA this past Saturday at home by pulling out a 67-62 victory.

Trailing by 20 with three minutes left in the first half, the Privateers stole some momentum heading into the locker room by outscoring the Panthers 7-3 in the closing minutes. Brennan Whelan (Northport, N.Y./Northport) chipped in a three-point shot and an assist during the run for Maritime.

The Privateers kept the energy going in the second half and slowly chipped away at the Purchase lead. With just over 10 minutes remaining, Alec Downes (Seaford, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) drained two corner threes to help Maritime cut the advantage to single digits at 61-52 with 7:57 remaining. Unfortunately, the Panthers came up with the answer on the following possession and drained a deep three-point shot. The lead was too much for the Privateers to come back from and they fell in Riesenberg Hall 75-59.

Downes led Maritime in scoring off the bench as he dropped 14 points on 4-8 shooting from behind the arc. Brendan McGovern (Seaford, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) also reached double-digits with 12, while Whelan and Chris Ruscillo (Carle Place, N.Y./Carle Place) each tallied eight. The Privateers bench out scored the Panthers by a margin of 35-17.

"We came out slow in the first half and Purchase made us pay," said head coach Mike Berkun. "They are a very talented squad and took advantage of our sloppy start. However, I'm happy with the way we bounced back before the half and then had a chance at making a comeback in the second half."

Maritime heads to Mount Saint Mary this Saturday at 1 p.m. before finishing off the season at home against Sarah Lawrence on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.