MANHATTAN — Staten Island Academy traveled to face host Dwight School on Tuesday night in an ACIS encounter, and the Tigers emerged with a hard-fought 71-64 victory to move to 2-0 on the young season.

SIA’s Danny Nowak made sure the Tigers’ first league contest was going to end in SIA’s favor, as the talented senior guard scored a game-high 30 points, including 13 in the first quarter and 10 in the final period.

Gabe Moschella added 14 markers for SIA, while Luke DeVito chipped in with 11.

A back-and-forth first quarter found the Tigers and Lions tied at 18 before the visitors edged ahead in the second period to take a 32-29 halftime lead. Dwight came back in the third to take a four-point lead before Nowak’s two free throws and a three-pointer from Will Paige put SIA back in the lead. Two free throws and a steal and layup by the Tigers’ Johan Wielens (seven points) put the guests ahead by four as the teams headed into what would be a wild fourth quarter.

“What an exciting high school game,” Tigers head coach Mike Mazella observed. “Both teams showed they could take a punch, dig in, and make a run to reclaim the lead. Whichever team made the last run was probably going to come out with the victory, and that’s exactly what happened.”

That last run, it turned out, belonged to SIA. After watching Dwight use an 11-4 fourth quarter burst to erase a 50-44 Tigers lead, the visitors would stage a 13-2 burst capped off by a Nowak layup on a Wielens assist and a DeVito basket off a steal by Jayden Ai.

“Our switch to a zone defense really helped us start that run,” Mazella noted, “and it was a move we had to make because (Nowak) was battling foul trouble. It turned out to be the difference in the game.”

Though Nowak ended up fouling out in the final minute, the Tigers were able to get some key defensive stops and salted the game away from the free throw line.

“The guys earned this one,” Mazella praised. “We still have so much room for improvement, but it’s always better to be saying that after watching your team battle to earn a gut-check win. Hopefully, we build on the momentum from this game and use it for this tough stretch of games we have over the next two weeks.”

The Tigers (1-0 in the ACIS) are back in action Saturday when they host New Dorp in an afternoon non-league tilt.

Port Richmond 47, New Utrecht 41

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Aaron Bramble led a balanced attack with 11 points as the Raiders recorded their first victory of the season with the non-league decision over the visiting Utes on Tuesday.

Emmanuel Gay and Kasiem Cromwell (seven rebounds, four steals) added eight points apiece while Recco Myers chipped in with seven markers for Port, which improved to 1-2 overall.

The Raiders took advantage of 24 turnovers by the Brooklyn school as they converted the miscues into 29 points. PR finished with 19 steals overall, including four from Syncere Holland and Myers and three from Bramble.

Junior varsity

Curtis 62, Susan Wagner 47

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Rameik Black scored a team-high 21 points and Kayden King added 17 as the Warriors rolled to the PSAL 4A Brooklyn-Staten Island II division victory over the visiting Falcons in St. George.

Derek Evo added nine points for Curtis, which improved to 2-0 overall this season (1-0 PSAL).

Kasyn Ford tallied a game-high 23 markers, including a pair of threes and a 9-for-11 performance from the free-throw line, for Wagner.

After Black’s eight first-half points gave the Warriors at 29-28 lead at intermission, the home team increased its advantage to 44-39 entering the final eight minutes thanks in part to Evo (all nine points).

King and Black helped the Warriors pull away in the final period with eight points apiece. King was 6 for 8 from the charity stripe in the final quarter (11 for 17 overall).

SIA 58, Dwight 44

MANHATTAN — The Tigers earned the ACIS victory by riding 20 points from Rob Esposito and 12 from Nathan Wildrick.

Sal Bongiorno added eight markers for SIA, while Josiah Wheatley-Harewood and Kenneth Pannell chipped in with five apiece.

The Tigers (1-0) used a strong third quarter, outscoring the hosts 18-8 to build a lead that would stay in double digits for the remainder of the game.

Esposito collected a game-high 14 rebounds for SIA.