Polan's Career-High 27 Lifts Violets to 76-62 Win Over Rivier

Richie Polan scored 16 of his career-high 27 points in the second half.

Box Score (SUNY New Paltz vs. Wheaton)

Richie Polan poured in a career-high 27 points and John Mish notched a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds as the New York University men's basketball team earned a 76-62 victory over Rivier College in the first round of the NYU Holiday Tournament on Monday night at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan, NY.

Polan also grabbed eight rebounds and surpassed his previous career best of 22 points against Brandeis University last season, as the Violets (7-0) owned a 39-28 rebounding advantage and an 18-5 edge on second-chance points. Keith Jensen added 16 points, six rebounds and four rebounds for NYU.

The Violets will face SUNY New Paltz, an 88-76 victor over Wheaton College (MA) in the other first-round game thanks to five double-digit scorers, in the championship game Tuesday night at 8 p.m. Wheaton will play Rivier in the third-place game at 6 p.m.

Lance Bisson led four double-digit scorers with 20 points for Rivier (4-2). Nick Bean scored 13, while Kevin Harrington added 11 and Felipe Lima dropped in 10.

In a first half featuring five ties and 10 lead changes, the Violets used a 7-0 closing surge to take a 35-28 halftime lead. Polan converted a backdoor lay-up off a feed from Andrew Baker to begin the run, and ended it with a three-pointer 49 seconds before intermission.

Mish then powered a 10-4 run to start the second half, scoring six points as the Violets went ahead 45-32 with 15:41 remaining after the senior sank a pair of free throws. From there, the Raiders never got any closer than six points.

"I thought that we started to attack them on a more consistent basis inside," NYU head coach Joe Nesci said. "I thought that was a really big key for us."

NYU shot 58.3% (14-for-24) in the second half and 50.9% (27-for-53) overall. Rivier shot 41.1% (24-for-58) overall.