Last-Second Shot Sinks Men's Basketball

Violets Drop 64-63 Decision to Mount Saint Vincent Despite Jensen's Six Treys

Omar Meziab hit three of NYU's 13 three-pointers Saturday.

Shaquille Cunningham converted a lay-up with 5.4 seconds remaining, providing the winning points as the College of Mount Saint Vincent knocked off New York University, 64-63, in a hotly contested non-conference men's basketball game Saturday afternoon at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.

A three-point try by Carl Yaffe (10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) clanged off the back iron as the buzzer sounded, giving the Dolphins (3-0) their first victory over the Violets (3-2) in eight tries.

Keith Jensen, who led three double-digit scorers with 18 points, hit the last of his career-high-tying six three-pointers with 57.2 seconds to give NYU, which trailed 41-31 early in the second half after going a stretch of 12:45 spanning both periods without a field goal, a 62-61 cushion with 57.2 ticks remaining.

After a miss by the Dolphins, Derek Becker went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe to increase the Violet advantage to 63-61 with 37.4 seconds remaining. Mount Saint Vincent pulled within a point when Cunningham (15 points) went 1-for-2 from the line with 31.5 seconds left, then fouled NYU's Omar Meziab with 24.8 seconds left. However, Meziab missed the front end of a one-and-one, setting the stage for Cunningham's heroics.

"I thought we played really hard and did a nice job of coming back. We certainly never gave up and you can never lose sight of that," NYU head coach Joe Nesci said. "You have to give Mount Saint Vincent credit. In the second half, they made a lot of tough shots."

NYU scored on its first four possessions of the game and held a 21-15 lead after a Jensen trifecta with 11:31 left in the first half. From there, the Dolphins used a 19-5 burst that included five tallies apiece from Filipp Bochkov and Dino Johnson (game-high 20 points), to claim a 34-26 cushion.

The Violets scored the final four points of the half from the foul line and headed into halftime trailing 34-30 after an opening 20 minutes that saw each team attempt 17 three-pointers. Mount Saint Vincent made seven of their tries and shot 46.4% (13-for-28) during the opening stanza, while NYU hit six but shot just 33.3% (8-for-24).

Overall, both sides combined for 56 three-point attempts, one short of the Coles Sports Center record set in 2007 when the Violets hosted the University of Rochester. NYU went 13-for-31 (41.9%) from long range with Jensen going 6-for-12, Yaffe finishing 3-for-8 and Omar Meziab (11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) hitting three of his five three-point tries.

NYU shot 37.5% overall (18-for-48), but did record assists on 16 of its baskets. The Violets also went 14-for-19 (73.7%) at the charity stripe.

Mount Saint Vincent went 10-for-25 (40.0%) from long distance as six different players hit a long ball, including four from Johnson. The Dolphins hit 48.1% (26-for-54) of their shots overall and owned a 32.31 rebounding edge.

NYU returns to action Wednesday, Dec. 9, when it hosts the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at 8 p.m. This game is part of a doubleheader and will be preceded by the Violets' women's basketball team opposing New Jersey City University at 6 p.m.