PURCHASE, NY- Mark Blazek (Erie, PA/Erie Cathedral Prep) scored a game-high 30 points to lead the Hartwick men's basketball team to a 73-67 win over the Manhattanville Valiants on Saturday night to claim the Manhattanville Castle Classic.
Blazek shot 11-for-15 from the field and was 6-of-7 from behind the three-point arc. He also added six rebounds. Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) had 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and made three treys along with four rebounds. Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) chipped in 10 points and four assists.
Trevoy Pointer led the Valiants with 28 points and was the only player on the team to score in double figures. He added five rebounds and four assists.
Manhattanville scored the opening points on a three from Pointer but the Hawks seized control from that point forward. A Suderley jumper and a three from Ryder put 'Wick up by two. Hartwick had a nine-point lead at 15:48 with five points coming from Blazek.
The Valiants would get within three points of tying the game, but a 16-6 Hawk run covering 4:52 would put Hartwick on top by 13 points, 31-18. The run was keyed by consecutive three-pointers from Ryder and Blazek.
Not to be outdone, Manhattanville went on a big run of its own, 17-5, that brought the deficit to within one point , 36-35, with just under a minute to play in the first half. Blazek would put Hartwick up by four after draining a three with 25 seconds left. He had 22 points at the break and made all five of his three-point attempts.
The second half was a tight affair as the score was tied six times. A jumper from the Valiants' Jack Bramswig tied the game at 41 all at 17:48. After Bramswig converted a layup, Blazek answered with his own layup to tie the game again. Consecutive free throws from Pointer gave Manhattanville a three-point advantage at the 15:10 mark but Hartwick would go on a 9-2 run to go up by four points at 11:32. The Valiants would tie the game at 54 all after a three-pointer from Jeffrey Ventura.
Hartwick would regain the lead but again Manhattanville would come back to tie the game up. The game would be tied twice more with the final time coming with less than five and a half minutes left to play in the game. The Hawks would close out the game on a 10-4 run capped by a layup and subsequent free throw from Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) with just under two minutes to play to put Hartwick up by four points. Mike Geisser (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) scored the final points for Wick and the Valiants added a layup with just one second remaining to complete the scoring.
"Blazek was fantastic in the first half," noted head coach Todd McGuinness. "Ryder stepped up and made big plays in the second half and Keane making the three-point play to put us up by four was huge."
Hartwick shot 50% from the floor in the game (28-of-56). The Hawks converted a blistering 62.5% in three-point attempts. Manhattanville shot 38.8% from the floor (26-of-67) and only made 30% (6-of-20) of its shots from beyond the three-point arc.
Blazek was named to the all-tournament team following the game.
The Hawks (3-0) will next be at Union on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
