For the second time this weekend, the #13-ranked New York University men's basketball team used late-game heroics to pull off a University Athletic Association (UAA) victory.

After overcoming a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat Washington University in St. Louis on Friday night, the Violets came from nine down in the second half and four behind in the final two minutes of regulation to post an 83-77 overtime victory over the University of Chicago on Sunday, January 21, at the John A. Paulson Center in Manhattan. 

NYU (13-3, 3-2) trailed by a game-high nine points, 58-49, with 11:24 remaining, but countered with an 11-0 run as Michael Savarino's drive put the Violets back in front with 5:21 left.

The teams traded leads until the Maroons (10-6, 2-3) went ahead by four, 67-63, on Bryce Hopkins' layup with 1:53 left 

But, just as he did on Friday, Spencer Freedman stepped up down the stretch, hitting consecutive layups with 51 seconds and 11 seconds remaining to tie the game and sent it into overtime.

Savarino opened the extra session with two free throws, Freedman followed with another drive and the Violets maintained the lead the rest of the way.

Freedman scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in overtime, including going 6-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute to secure the victory.

"I don't know which part is more insane, the fact that every one of these games comes down to the wire or the fact that we can keep putting the ball in Spencer Freedman's hands and he delivers," said Head Coach Dave Klatsky.

Freedman played all but one minute of the game, adding eight rebounds and a team-high six assists and a steal.

"Fortunately, we have a lot of experience in close games and our coaches put us in great spots," Freedman said. "My teammates are always calm and level-headed. You can't look behind. What's happened has happened. We can only worry about what's going to happen on our next possession. When we're behind, we need to figure out how to get a stop and then get a basket."  

The Violets scored the opening points of the game, but trailed by as many as seven on two occasions in the first half.

NYU reclaimed the lead, 29-27, on Zay Freeney's three-pointer with 3:59 remaining in the half. Freedman followed with another three to give the Violets their biggest lead before the Maroons came back to tie the score 34-34 at halftime.

The Violets eventually fell behind by nine in the second half, but managed to pull out another victory.

"We have been riding Spencer lately, but we're going to have to find ways to not get into these holes," Klatsky explained.  

Freeney added 17 points, Quinn Clark had 12 and Savarino finished with 11.

Clark and Emmanuel Onuama each collected a team-high nine rebounds.  

The Violets return to the court for another UAA contest on Friday, January 26, when they host the University of Rochester back at the Paulson Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30pm.