NEW YORK, N.Y. – Gettysburg College's Pete Christ hit a free throw with two seconds left on the clock to give the Bullets a 62-61 victory over Manhattanville College in a back-and-forth non-conference men's basketball contest on day two of the NYU Holiday Classic, held on Saturday afternoon at the Coles Sports Center.
 
Christ was the hero of the game for Gettysburg (7-4), scoring a game-high 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a 5-of-8 effort from beyond the arc. Kevin Gladstone added 12 points and eight boards while Tanner Kirkpatrick grabbed a game-high 13 caroms as well for the Bullets.
 
Junior Anthony Maestre (Bronx, N.Y./Mount St. Michael Academy) was the top scorer on the day for Manhattanville (4-7), registering 20 points with five assists and four steals. Classmate Juan Camacho (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/New Horizons) also reached double figures with 10 points and freshman Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) added seven points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
In a game that featured 10 ties and 18 lead changes (including 12 in the second half alone), the teams knew things would come down to the final seconds. After a Maestre three capped a 7-0 Valiant run and put the squad ahead 57-56, the teams traded baskets before Camacho grabbed an offensive board and went back up for two to give Manhattanville a 61-58 lead with 1:56 remaining.
 
However, Christ came right back with a huge three-pointer as the shot clock wound down to even the score at 61 with less than 90 seconds left. Both teams had two unsuccessful chances to break the tie before Christ charged the lane and drew a foul with two seconds left, hitting the front end to put his team ahead by a point. After a Valiant timeout, Manhattanville could only manage a three-quarter court shot at the buzzer that caromed off the backboard.
 
Manhattanville finished the game shooting 36.8 percent (21 of 57) from the field to Gettysburg's 51.1 percent (24 for 47). The Valiants did win the turnover battle, forcing 19 Bullet miscues and turning them into 21 points at the other end.
 
Gettysburg jumped out to an early 5-0 lead to start the contest, but after a slow start the Valiants got their footing thanks to back-to-back threes from Maestre and Camacho. In fact, the squad hit nothing but threes until a jumper from junior Darius Christmas (Hackensack, N.J./Paramus Catholic) evened the score at 11 with 12:17 left in the first half.
 
The teams traded baskets until an 11-0 run for Gettysburg gave the Bullets a 26-19 lead with four minutes left in the half. However, Manhattanville came back to outscore Gettysburg by a 11-4 margin the rest of the way to even the score at 30 headed into the half.
 
Maestre led the Valiants with 10 points at the half, thanks in part to 5-of-5 shooting from the line, in addition to three steals and a pair of assists. Manhattanville shot only 34.6 percent (9 of 26) from the field over the first 20 minutes, but was helped by a 9-of-10 effort from the line as well as a stingy defense that forced 14 turnovers leading to 14 points.
 
The second half was a one-possession game for the first 12 minutes until Gettysburg used a 9-0 run to turn a three-point Valiant lead into a 56-50 GC advantage with 6:33 remaining. But Manhattanville struck right back with seven straight points of its own, getting buckets from Maestre and Tuci before a key Maestre triple put the Valiants back up 57-56 with 4:12 on the clock, setting the stage for a close finish that just didn't go the Valiants' way. 
 
The Valiants will look to get back on the right track with the next four games all coming at Kennedy Gym, beginning on Tuesday with a 7 p.m. tipoff against Trinity (Conn.).