The New York University men's basketball team pulled out a hard-fought 80-79 victory against Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, on Sunday, February 7.
The Violets pushed their overall record to 17-3 and their University Athletic Association (UAA) record to 6-3. Case Western Reserve's overall record dropped to 10-10 with is UAA record falling to 3-6.
In a close contest from the onset, NYU entered the second half with a 42-36 lead.
"You have to expect a battle like this on the road in the UAA and that's exactly what we got today," said NYU Assistant Coach
Adam Parmenter. "We just stuck together and persevered out there today and came out with the win."
A minute-and-a-half into the second period, however, the Violets saw their lead evaporate as CWRU's Jimmy Holman and David Black hit back-to-back threes to tie the game with 18:29 remaining.
Thanks to an 11-2 run, capped by by a
Max Ralbyfast-break layup off a steal, NYU jumped out to a nine-point lead with 8:49 left to play.The Violets' lead grew to 11 points at 69-58 with 7:14 remaining as
Doug Gertner scored on a layup, as well.
The Spartans did not surrender, though, and went on an 11-0 run of their own sparked by two big shots from beyond the arc by Jake Lavis (4:44) and Javier Alvarez (3:34). Alvarez split a pair of free throws at the 2:57 mark to give Case Western Reserve the 74-71 lead.
After exchanging the lead twice more,
Costis Gontikas hit a huge layup with 28 seconds left. He was fouled on the play but missed the free-throw. Fortunately,
Patrick Burns was there to clean up the offensive glass and maintain NYU's possession. That sequence was followed closely by two free throws from
Ross Udine to seal the deal at 80-79. CWRU's Holman missed what would have been the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer.
"That offensive rebound by Patrick to maintain the possession was huge," added Parmenter. "We got key stops and key rebounds at the end of the game to pull the victory out."
HIGHLIGHTS:- Forward
Evan Kupferberg had a game-high 20 points and produced yet another double-double (14th of the season) with 12 boards.
- Burns contributed 15 points and nine rebounds.
- Gontikas finished with 14 points and eight boards to go along with five blocks.
NYU will be back in action next Friday, February 12, in Atlanta, GA, when the Violets take on Emory University at 8:00 pm.
