Box Score
Box Score (Hartwick-Brooklyn)

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Seniors Jeff Ventura (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cypress Bay) and Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) tied for the team-high with 18 points each and classmate Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) added his first career double-double as the Manhattanville men's basketball team held off Saint John Fisher by a 73-66 score on day one of the 2011 Castle Classic, held on Friday night at Kennedy Gymnasium.

Ventura had a career-high day for Manhattanville in the win, setting a new career standard with his 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and a 3-of-4 mark from beyond the arc. Pointer shot just 5-of-11 from the field but supplemented that effort with 8-of-11 shooting from the charity stripe, while Blackmon also drained eight free throws to finish with 12 points and 12 boards. Fellow senior Ivan Jovicic (Belgrade, Serbia/Sports HS Belgrade) had a perfect night from the field, as he nailed all four of his three-point attempts to also finish with 12 points.

Saint John Fisher was led by Jordan Gettings and Jason Norsen, as Gettings led all scorers with 23 points (on 8-of-17 shooting) and Norsen posted an impressive double-double with 17 points and a game-high 21 rebounds.

Neither team could gain much separation for the first seven minutes of play, as a Gettings jumper gave the Cardinals a 16-14 lead with 12:32 left in the first half. But Manhattanville ratcheted up the offense after that, using a 20-6 run to take back the lead at 34-22. Pointer had seven during the run and Ventura concluded the stretch with a three-pointer and a subsequent steal and transition layup with 3:48 remaining.

Despite an 8-0 Saint John Fisher run to end the frame, the Valiants still held a 34-30 lead at the break. Both teams made 13 field goals in the opening frame, but the Valiants did so in only 27 shots (48.1 percent) and also sunk three more trifectas to hold the lead after 20 minutes.

Fisher regained its footing to tie up the score early in the second half, and eventually built up a lead of as many as seven points (59-52) on a three-pointer from Justin Plata with 8:14 left in the game. The Cardinal lead was still four with 6:20 on the clock before three straight free throws brought the home team within one point and then a Pointer steal led to a quick three from the corner by Jovicic that forced the ninth and final lead change of the game and put the home team back in front at 65-63. With momentum back on their side, the Valiants never trailed again.

The Valiant defense showed its strength down the stretch in earning the win, keeping the Cardinals without a field goal from the 6:19 mark until a meaningless layup by Norsen with just seven seconds remaining. During the stretch, Saint John Fisher missed 13 straight shots from the field and made just one free throw, turning a four-point SJF lead into a nine-point Valiant edge.

For the game, Manhattanville shot 43.1 percent (22 for 51) from the field and a marksmanlike 8 of 13 (61.5 percent) from beyond the arc, led by Jovicic and Ventura's combined 7-for-8 effort. Saint John Fisher managed 17 more shots than their opponents thanks to 20 offensive rebounds, but the Cardinals only shot 24 for 68 (35.3 percent) from the field and 5 of 25 from downtown in suffering their first loss of the year.

In the first game of the day, Hartwick held off a dogged Brooklyn side to pull out a 60-54 victory. Chris Ryder led four Hawks in double figures with 13 points and added a game-high 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, which helped to counteract a game-high 19 points from the Bulldogs' Kavon Baker.

All four teams will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at Kennedy Gym on day two of the Castle Classic, as Brooklyn (1-1) and Saint John Fisher (1-1) battle at 3 p.m. before Manhattanville (1-1) and Hartwick (2-0) follow with the de facto tournament championship game beginning at approximately 5 p.m.