From NYU Athletics
The New York University men's basketball team avenged its first defeat of the season with a 77-67 victory on Sunday afternoon, January 17, over the University of Rochester in a University Athletic Association (UAA) contest at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center.
"This win shows that our players are dedicated to each other and that there's no quit," said NYU Head Coach Joe Nesci. "We were disappointed in our performance on Friday, and I think they were determined to give their best effort today. And, that was good enough to beat a really solid Rochester team."
The Violets (12-1, 2-1 UAA) were once again led by their senior big men down low as Evan Kupferberg led all players in points (21) and rebounds (16) for his fifth-straight double-double and ninth of the season. Costis Gontikas was NYU's second-leading scorer with 17 points and added seven rebounds.
"The key today was our overall play. It wasn't any one thing," continued Nesci. "They have a lot of balance in their offense, so for us the challenge was to keep them to one shot and I thought we did a really good job of doing that."
After jumping out to a 9-2 lead to start the contest, NYU then began trading buckets with the Yellowjackets (8-6, 1-2) for the remainder of the half as the home team took a 37-30 lead into the break.
The second half was much of the same. Rochester, which ended the half on a layup, scored the first five points in the second to pull within two, 37-35. NYU countered with an 11-4 run from 18:31 to 12:36. Joe Timmes scored five of his season-high 13 points during the run.
"I had a tough injury and my teammates stuck with me," Timmes said. "I just wanted to be ready and be efficient whenever I got back out there.
The Violets would eventually expand their lead to 10 points at 9:48 – their largest advantage of the contest – on another Timmes three-pointer. NYU led by 10 points four more times following Timmes' basket.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Max Ralby finished with an efficient afternoon. The senior co-captain chipped in nine points, six rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal.
- Ross Udine registered 12 points, a game-high five assists and four rebounds.
- NYU outrebounded the Yellowjackets 51-37.
- Jacob Witting led Rochester's offensive effort with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting.