Men's Basketball Succumbs to Chicago

Violets Fall 69-62 Despite Placing Four in Double Figures

Richie Polan hit eight of his 10 shot attempts.

Despite placing four players in double-digits, New York University could not stave off the University of Chicago and suffered a 69-62 loss to its University Athletic Association (UAA) rival Friday night before a crowd of 1,885 at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center.

Chicago (2-15, 2-4 UAA) went ahead to stay when John Kinsella (16 points) hit a pair of free throws with 1:19 remaining, giving the Maroons a 63-62 lead. Adam Machones (15 tallies) converted a drive with :32 remaining to make it 65-62, then Matt Corning (game-high 23 points) went 4-for-4 at the charity stripe in the final 11.7 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.

NYU (13-4, 2-4 UAA) scored on each of its first seven possessions of the second half, claiming a 42-33 lead with 16:01 remaining as Richie Polan (17 points, 8-for-10 FG, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) netted nine of his points the surge.

However, the Maroons continuously charged back, taking their first lead of the second half when Michael Sustarsic hit a three-ball with 4:30 remaining to put his team ahead 59-58. The teams would trade the lead three more times, with NYU going up 62-61 with 2:30 left after John Mish (15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists), who recorded his seventh double-double of the season, canned a pair of free throws.

From there, Chicago used an 8-0 run to secure its second victory of the season.

"Obviously we're disappointed with the loss," NYU head coach Joe Nesci said. "I've got to give some of the credit to Chicago, though."

Keith Jensen (11 points, 5 boards) and D.J. Glavan (10 points, all in the second half) also hit double figures for NYU, which shot 44.8% (26-for-58), but just 26.7% (4-for-15) from three-point range. The Violets did own a 34-30 edge on the boards.

Chicago shot 83.3% (15-for-18) from the foul line to overcome a 42.6% (23-for-54) shooting performance, including just 8-for-28 (28.6%) from long distance.

NYU resumes play Sunday, Feb. 1, when it hosts #2-ranked and defending NCAA Division III National Champion Washington University at noon. Chicago will travel to Brandeis and tip off at the same time.