From NYU Athletics

The New York University men's basketball team came out guns blazing from the opening tip on Sunday afternoon, November 29. Following a 21-6 run to start the game, the Violets closed out the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 97-67 at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center to stay unbeaten in the season's early going.

"This season, especially the past two games, you can definitely tell that we've put an emphasis on getting the running going early by our passes up the court," said Patrick Burns. "There's been a lot of work on that in practice and it's translating."

NYU (4-0) dominated MCLA (2-4) in every aspect during the victory, but shined the most both under the basket and in transition. The Violets outscored the Trailblazers 72-32 in the paint and 20-2 in fast break points. Following its hot start, NYU stretched its first-half lead to 25 at one point, 42-17 with 5:34 left via a Costis Gontikas old-fashioned three-point play. The Violets then twice took their largest lead of the game at 35 points, first on a three-pointer from Tony Bai with 4:16 left in the second half, and again two minutes later thanks to a Landon Kupferberg layup with 2:19 remaining.

"The guys did a great job of following the scouting report. They took what we went over in practice and followed it to a 'T'," said NYU Assistant Coach Taylor Roth. "We've done a great job all year of jumping on teams at the start and just playing hard – not scoreboard watching – and forcing other teams to play our game and our tempo."

Burns finished with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor. The senior swing player also had eight rebounds. Three of his baskets were tone-setting dunks, specifically the first two which came at 13:00 and 11:45 in the first half and forced an early timeout by MCLA.

"Pat was very efficient and did a good job of staying within himself both offensively and defensively," Roth said. "He's a bulldog down there. He's a lot to handle for anybody, and he did a great job today both on the wing and on the inside."

"I definitely have to give recognition to our guards – they're feeding me when I'm getting open," Burns offered. "I just got it going early with the uncontested looks in the paint and went on from there."

HIGHLIGHTS:

- Gontikas' 22 points on 10-of-14 from the floor in just 15 minutes tied his career high, which was set last time out against Arcadia University. The 6-foot-9 senior center also pulled down six rebounds, had two assists and a steal. He and Burns led all players in scoring on Sunday.

- NYU finished with a whopping 28 assists as a team, with nine Violets dishing out at least one. Max Ralby led all players with seven, followed by Ross Udine's six. Ralby grabbed a game-best nine rebounds and added seven points, while Udine chipped in nine points and two steals.

- Brad Lahens had an efficient night, going 4-of-5 from the floor. The 6-foot-10 senior center finished with nine points, four rebounds and two blocks.