The New York University men's basketball team, ranked #9 in NCAA Division III, returned to the court for the first time since December 16 and defeated SUNY Canton 96-48 in the opening round of the NYU Holiday Tournament on Friday, December 29, at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan.

NYU (9-1) showed a bit of rust at the start, falling behind the Roos (4-9) by a score of 8-1.

The Violets responded with a 14-3 run to take their first lead.

SUNY Canton briefly went back ahead, and then with the score tied 20-20, NYU produced a 19-1 streak to take the lead for good.

The Violets led 50-29 at halftime, and the onslaught continued in the second half as NYU went up by as many as 51 points.   

"Teams have unbelievable energy when they come here to play NYU," said Head Coach Dave Klatsky. "SUNY Canton looked great in those first few minutes, but there's no panic in our group and that's something special." 

Michael Savarino led a balanced scoring attack with 18 points. Spencer Freedman and Hampton Sanders each had 13, while Cinque Stephens chipped in with 10.

A pair of Violets dominated the boards with double-digit rebounds, as Emmanuel Onuama collected 14 and Quinn Clark added 12 as NYU out-rebounded SUNY Canton 54-32.

Zay Freeney had a game-high five assists for the Violets.

"We have a lot of threats, a lot of guys who can do some things," Klatsky explained. "There's a lot of unselfishness on our team. Stats don't matter as long as the most important stat shows up that we have more points on the scoreboard than the other team."

The Violets are back at Paulson for the Championship Game of the tournament vs. SUNY Oneonta at 3:00pm on Saturday.