Meziab's 3 Seals Wild Victory Over Chicago

Violets Survive 23 Lead Changes to Notch 71-66 Victory

Omar Meziab scored five of his 11 points in the final 48.8 seconds.

Omar Meziab's three-pointer with 48.8 ticks left marked the 23rd and final lead change of a contentious battle between University Athletic Association (UAA) men's basketball contenders, lifting New York University to a thrilling 71-66 victory over the University of Chicago on Friday night at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.

Meziab (11 points) also buried two free throws with :21 left for the Violets (15-6, 6-4 UAA), who moved into a three-way tie for second place with Brandeis University and Emory University in the UAA standings.

Richie Polan scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, including two conversions from the charity stripe with 4.6 ticks left to provide the final margin, for NYU, which snapped a five-game losing streak against the Maroons (11-10, 5-5 UAA). He also grabbed six boards while hitting 6 of 8 shots in 22 minutes off the bench.

"It was a great Division III college basketball game. Those were two very good teams," NYU head coach Joe Nesci said. "I thought we executed well and got great play off the bench from all of our reserves."

After a first half that foreshadowed a climactic finish, the Violets (15-6, 6-4 UAA) trailed 64-62 with 1:55 remaining before Andy Stein scored off a spin move to forge a 64-64 deadlock with 1:40 left. After a Maroons miss, Meziab spotted up the corner right in front of NYU's bench, received a feed from Stein and found nothing but net on his attempt.

"It was a huge shot," Nesci said.

It became a big shot because the Violets were able to stem the tide once Jake Pancratz (game-high 19 points, 6-11 FG, 5-10 3FG) hit a pair of three-pointers to give Chicago its biggest edge, 45-40, with 16:28 remaining.

Prior to Polan's free throws, NYU's biggest lead was 9-4 at the outset before the teams traded leads on seven consecutive scoring possessions and 14 overall before leaving the floor for intermission deadlocked at 34-34.

NYU shot 52.9% overall (27-for-51), including a 10-for-23 showing (43.5%) from three-point range. Keith Jensen gave the Violets their fourth double-digit scorer with 12 points, giving him 963 in his career. NYU only went 7-for-13 (53.8%) from the foul line.

Steve Stefanou (14 points), John Kinsella (13) and Paul Riskus (10) also reached double figures for Chicago, which shot 43.4% overall (23-for-53), 11-for-30 (36.7%) on its three-point attempts and 9-for-14 (64.3%) from the charity stripe. Both teams grabbed 30 rebounds.

NYU will host #3-ranked Washington University, the two-time defending NCAA Division III National Champion, in its final regular-season contest Sunday, Feb. 14, at noon. Prior to the game, the Violets will honor their three seniors: Borsi, Meziab and Jensen.