Box Score
Down 15 at halftime, the New York University men's basketball team got as close as one three times in the second half but ultimately fell 69-54 at Rutgers-Newark in the semifinals of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro Tournament on Saturday, March 5, in Newark, NJ.
The defeat brought the 2010-11 campaign to an end for the Violets, who finished with a 16-11 overall record. The fourth-seeded Scarlet Raiders (19-7) advanced to ECAC Metro finals, where they will take on #2-seed Stevens Institute of Technology.
In this semifinal matchup, eighth-seeded NYU found itself down 38-23 at halftime after Rutgers-Newark ended the first half on a 28-9 run. The Violets struggled offensively in the period, shooting just 34.6% (9-for-26) three days after shooting a scorching 75.9% (22-for-29) in the opening half of their first-round contest at St. Joseph's College-Long Island.
The Scarlet Raiders, meanwhile, sank five three-pointers in the first stanza to build their big lead. But
Carl Yaffe drained back-to-back triples to start the second half for NYU, chopping six points off the deficit in just 1:14.
Rutgers-Newark scored six straight to build its lead back to 15, but big men
Andy Stein and
Richie Polan then rattled off 14 straight points to pull the Violets to within one, 44-43.
Jeremiah Rivers responded with a jumper for the Scarlet Raiders, but Polan made a steal and threw a long outlet to
Derek Becker for a fastbreak layup, again making the deficit one. Following a Pedro Burgos bucket,
Kyle Stockmal drained a pull-up jumper, keeping NYU within one.
The Violets, however, could never get over the hump and take the lead. Tyler Jones and Burgos hit back-to-back threes for Rutgers-Newark immediately after Stockmal's jumper, and after Stein got NYU to within five, 56-51, with 5:17 left, Burgos scored eight unanswered points to help the Scarlet Raiders pull away.
Stein finished with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting and added five rebounds. He ended the year with a field-goal percentage of 62.8%, the third-best single-season field-goal percentage in school history.
As a team, the Violets, who ended the regular season leading all of Division III in assists per game, broke the school record for assists in a season with 525. They shot 48.8% from the field for the year, the third-best single-season field-goal percentage in NYU's storied history, and 72.0% from the free-throw line, the third-best team free-throw percentage in school history.
Yaffe recorded a double-double for the Violets with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Polan totaled 13 points and eight boards in his final collegiate game. Becker, also playing his last game, had six assists.
Polan ended his career 19th on NYU's all-time scoring list with 1,090 career points.
Burgos, who entered the game averaging the fourth-most threes per game in all of Division III, made six shots from beyond the arc and finished with 30 points. Rivers added 15 points and eight rebounds, while Al'Don Muhammad totaled 11 points and nine assists.
