The NYU Tip-Off Tournament Championship crown—and a 4-0 start to the season—belongs to New York University's Men's Basketball Team.

The Violets faced off with Marywood University on Sunday, November 14, at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility in the title game of NYU's annual early-season event, coming away with a 99-48 victory.

"Today was a full 40-minute performance on both sides of the ball," said Head Coach Dagan Nelson. "I was proud of our team and our effort, our energy and enthusiasm. We played the right way, we shared the basketball and set a season high tonight with 22 assists."

Bobby Hawkinson (Frankfort, IL/Marist) was named Tournament MVP as he followed his 18-point, 12-rebound double-double yesterday with 14 points and six rebounds against the Pacers. Jacob Sussman (Mount Olive, NJ/The Lawrenceville School) and Alex Maticiuc (Monaco, Monte-Carlo/St. Thomas More School (Montville, CT)) were selected to the All-Tournament Team, along with John Jay College's Garrison Watkins and Marywood's Jason Holman and Brendan Franko.

NYU opened the Championship clash 4-of-5 from long-range, with three of those buckets coming from rookie Zay Freeney (Phoenix, AZ/South Mountain), to establish an early 12-5 edge. The Pacers came within three points soon after, but NYU immediately produced a 12-2 run that gave them a 13-point lead (24-11) with 12:27 left in the first.

Marywood (2-2) stayed within striking distance until the final four minutes of the frame when the Violets rattled off nine unanswered points, with Sussman scoring six, to go up 43-23.

NYU rode a 47.4 percent clip from three in the first half to hold a 49-29 advantage at intermission.

The second half was never close as the Violets shot over 50 percent from the floor and held Marywood to just six field goals to run away with another lopsided triumph.

"I'm just really proud of our response today," added Nelson. "We talked about a bunch of things with our team and we're really, really proud of how they responded today to play a full 40."

Maticiuc scored a game-high 20 points on very efficient 7-of-11 shooting (3-of-4 from deep) to go along with four boards and a steal.

Sussman, who scored 18 points yesterday, added 11 points in this one (4-of-5 from the field), while Freeney totaled 12 on four triples.

Holt Bashinsky (Birmingham, AL/Mountain Brook) scored in double-figures for the second-straight game, contributing 10 points off the bench. Fellow rookie Cinque Stephens (Dallas, TX/Wlbraham & Monson) made the most of his eight minutes of action, scoring eight points (4-of-7) with five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

The Violets are back on the road for their next outing, traveling upstate to Hobart College on Saturday, November 20, beginning at 2 pm.