In a battle of Long Island vs. New York City, Poly Prep was able to use their zone defense to stifle St. Dominic's in the Big Apple Basketball Challenge at Baruch College by a final score of 46-36 on Saturday afternoon.

St. Dominic's, a private school on Long Island, held a size advantage over Poly Prep and tried to send the ball inside to 6'7" center Paul Bilbo. Prep, a school that plays in the New York City Ivy League, was able to force coach Rob Pavinelli's guards to shoot the ball from the outside early and jumped out to an 8-1 lead when senior sharpshooter Ian Goldberg knocked down a three pointer. Poly Prep held a 13-6 lead after what was a low scoring opening quarter.

In the second session, St. Dominic's was able to make plays against Poly Prep's zone by using their guards, Dan Kenny and P.J. Walters, to penetrate off the dribble. On the flip side, coach Pavinelli's team went to a man-to-man defense to slow down the outside scoring threats on Poly Prep.

Dom's was able to cut the Prep lead to just 18-17 after the junior guard Walters knocked down two free throws with 1:01 to play in the first half. However, Prep was able to go on a 6-0 run to close the second session, capped off by a jump shot from freshman guard Bradley Gifford with three seconds left to play in the first half.

The senior guard Goldberg, who is headed to Haverford College next year, led all scorers in the first half with 9 points and dished out 3 assists for Poly Prep, while junior guard Alex Goldfarb chipped in with 5 points as well for head coach Bill McNally's team. 6'3" senior guard Brian Katz led St. Dominic's with 6 first half points while P.J. Walters contributed with 5 points, making up for 11 of their team's 17 first half points.

Senior guard George Jackson was able to lay convert on a lay-up to open the second half for St. Dom's, cutting the lead to 24-19. However, that was as close as the Long Island school would come in the third quarter, as Poly Prep went on an 11-0 run after that lay-up to open up a comfortable 35-19 lead with just over three minutes to play in the third quarter. At the center of the run were the seniors Ian Goldberg and athletic forward Justin Newton, who scored in a variety of ways.

St. Dominic's would not go down quietly, as they were able to chip into the lead as the third quarter and the fourth quarter began. After a Brian Katz jump shot with 5:44 to go in the fourth quarter the Prep lead was cut to 35-33. That was as close as Dom's was able to come to a comeback, as Poly Prep countered St. Dominic's run with a 7-0 run of their own, taking a 42-33 lead with just 3:40 to go in the game. In addition, winning by a final score of 46-36.

The senior Goldberg won the game MVP award (Goldberg also won the academic achievement award for his team) by finishing with 16 points off of 6-10 shooting from the field. His fellow senior, Justin Newton, scored 12 to chip in to the Prep win. St. Dominic's was led by Brian Katz, who was the only player in double figures scoring wise for the private school, with 14 points.

"This was a big win for the program," said Poly Prep head coach Bill McNally, whose team defeated Class A and CHSAA-power Bishop Ford earlier in the season, as he added "We knew were going to have a good team this year because we have four seniors (Ian Goldberg, Justin Newton, Matt Figueroa and Kyle Clark) and a junior who has been on the team since he was a freshman (Alex Goldfarb) in the starting lineup, and the schedule we have reflects that."

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