NEW YORK – Sophomore guard Pete Christ made the game-winning free throw with two seconds left and tied a career-high with 22 points, lifting the Gettysburg College men's basketball team to a 62-61 victory over Manhattanville College on the second and final day of the NYU Holiday Classic Saturday afternoon.
In an extremely close contest that featured 10 ties and 18 lead changes, Christ scored Gettysburg's last four points, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at 61-all with 1:27 remaining. The Valiants (4-7) missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, but senior guard Sean Gordon missed the front end of a 1-and-1. However, sophomore forward Cody Kiefer grabbed the rebound before Christ misfired on a trey with 48 seconds left, and Manhattanville rebounded.
Kiefer came down with another big rebound when the Valiants missed a lay-up with 30 seconds left. Christ then drew a foul on a drive to the bucket, and he hit the first of two free throws. Manhattanville rebounded and called timeout with one tick showing, but could only muster a desperation heave that banged off the backboard.
Christ shot 5-for-8 from 3-point range, marking a career-high from beyond the arc.
Junior forward Kevin Gladstone added 12 points and eight rebounds for Gettysburg (7-4) while sophomore forward Tanner Kirkpatrick grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds. Kiefer contributed eight points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
Anthony Maestre paced the Valiants with 20 points and five assists.
The Bullets played the tournament without head coach George Petrie due to health reasons.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair right from the start, as the first ten and a half minutes featured three ties and four lead changes. The Bullets momentarily opened up some breathing room after an 11-0 run gave them a 26-19 lead – the largest advantage of the day for either team – with 4:03 left in the first half following a Kiefer 3-pointer. But Manhattanville came back with six unanswered, and a pair of Maestre free throws with 27 seconds left tied the game at 30-all heading into the break.
It was more of the same early in the second half, which saw two ties and seven lead changes over the opening 6:28. Gordon, who sat out much of the first half with foul trouble, got hot to score seven straight points and nine of the team's 13 during a stretch midway through the period.
A 9-0 Gettysburg run put the Bullets up 56-50 with 6:33 remaining. Gladstone started and finished the spurt with a pair of lay-ups, and Christ made a pair of foul shots and a 3-pointer along the way. However, the Valiants came back with seven straight points, taking the lead on a Maestre triple with 4:12 to go.
Gladstone put the Bullets back in front, 58-57, on a lay-in with 3:45 left before Maestre answered yet again, this time with a lay-up with 2:53 showing. Juan Camacho nudged Manhattanville's lead to 61-58 on a lay-up with 1:56 left, setting up Christ's big finish.
Gettysburg returns to action on Wednesday, when it visits Ursinus College at 7 p.m. in a Centennial Conference match-up.
MANHATTANVILLE (4-7)
Anthony Maestre 6-14 5-5 20; Juan Camacho 4-10 0-0 10; Sean Sampson 2-5 2-2
8; Alex Tuci 3-8 1-2 7; Darius Christmas 2-4 2-3 6; Timmy McCauley 2-3 0-0
5; Andrew Winter 1-5 1-2 3; Charles Nardone 1-4 0-0 2; Dom Arena 0-1 0-0 0;
Wills Flynn 0-2 0-0 0; Victor Troya 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 11-14 61.
GETTYSBURG (7-4)
Pete Christ 6-9 5-6 22; Kevin Gladstone 6-8 0-1 12; Sean Gordon 4-9 0-1 9;
Cody Kiefer 3-6 0-0 8; Tanner Kirkpatrick 2-9 1-3 5; Matt England 2-5 0-0 4;
Joe Emerusabe 1-1 0-0 2; Alex Kaslander 0-0 0-0 0; Uri Rahimi 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 24-47 6-11 62.
Manhattanville................ 30 31 - 61
Gettysburg.................... 30 32 - 62
3-point goals--Manhattanville 8-24 (Anthony Maestre 3-8; Juan Camacho 2-5;
Sean Sampson 2-4; Timmy McCauley 1-1; Charles Nardone 0-2; Dom Arena 0-1;
Andrew Winter 0-2; Darius Christmas 0-1), Gettysburg 8-20 (Pete Christ 5-8;
Cody Kiefer 2-5; Sean Gordon 1-4; Matt England 0-1; Tanner Kirkpatrick 0-2).
Fouled out--Manhattanville-Andrew Winter, Gettysburg-None.
Rebounds--Manhattanville 24 (Alex Tuci 7), Gettysburg 41 (Tanner Kirkpatrick
13). Assists--Manhattanville 11 (Anthony Maestre 5), Gettysburg 18 (Cody
Kiefer 5). Total fouls--Manhattanville 16, Gettysburg 15. Technical
fouls--Manhattanville-None, Gettysburg-None. A-374