From NYU Athletics
The New York University men's basketball team, ranked #12 in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, battled back from a 11-point deficit in the first half en route to a 66-57 victory over Yeshiva University on Wednesday night, December 30, at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan.
"You have to knock the rust off after you've had three weeks off," said NYU Assistant Coach Taylor Roth. "We were just off on some of the finer points offensively and defensively. Finding ways to win when you're not necessarily at your best – we proved that we can do that."
The Maccabees (6-6) scored the first six points of the contest and eventually led the Violets (6-0) 13-2 for their largest lead of the game with 15:37 left in the first half. The home team eventually whittled that margin down to seven following a pair of free throws from Patrick Burns at the end of the half as Yeshiva took a 31-24 advantage at halftime.
NYU controlled the second half, outscoring the Maccabees 42-26 to take control of the game and come out with the victory despite holding the lead for just seven minutes all night. With just over eight minutes remaining in the contest and momentum trending toward the Violets, Jay Murphy made a huge-impact play with a steal at midcourt following a NYU basket and took it down the lane himself to tie the game at 46-46. This was the first time the Violets did not trail since the opening tip.
Following a few more ties, the Violets took the 57-55 lead on a Costis Gontikas layup with just over four minutes left.
NYU never trailed again.
Two key plays to keep the Violets' momentum in the waning minutes came from Max Ralby. The senior co-captain hit a pair of dagger-three-point-shots in a 30-second span just past the two-minute mark to put Yeshiva away.
"We strung a couple of stops together, and anytime you can do that it gets the whole team going," continued Roth.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Burns finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the line.
- Gontikas led NYU with a team-best 16 points and added seven rebounds and three steals.
- Evan Kupferberg finished with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
- After sitting the majority of the first half due to foul trouble, Ross Udine put together a nice second. The sophomore point guard finished with six points and a game-best five assists in just 20 minutes.
"Ross gave us a big lift," said Roth. "He did a nice job of bouncing back after some early foul trouble and made some big plays down the stretch."
- Shelby Rosenberg (game-high 19 points) and Joseph Ammar (17 points) led the effort for the visiting Maccabees.