From NYU Athletics
Nikola Lipovic scored a game-high-tying 18 points while Quinn Clark had a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead New York University's men's basketball team in a 70-57 win over Brandeis University on Friday night at the Brooklyn Athletic Facility.
Lipovic, along with fellow seniors Ephraim Reed and Eric Berschadsky, were honored prior to the game in a Senior Night ceremony.
The victory was the fifth-in-a-row for the Violets, who finish the 2022-23 regular season with an 18-7 record and 7-7 mark in the University Athletic Association (UAA). Under first-year head coach Dave Klatsky, NYU finished .500-or-above in UAA play for the first time since 2015-16.
The Violets accomplished this after opening the league slate with a 2-7 record, but won the next five Association contests by an average margin of 13 points.
"Honestly, everybody left us for dead," Klatsky said of the team's slow start in the league. "This group has so much resilience and so much heart. Just the toughness they've exhibited over this five game winning streak, I'm so proud of them.
"What I said to the guys, probably with three games left, we looked at the schedule and I said, guys do we have a conference tournament? Everyone said no and I was like, guess what, NYU does because we have three games left...and if we win all three we're dancing. I didn't know at the time if it would work out with all the other teams fighting for at-larges, but I think we've put ourselves in a really good position to have a chance at making the NCAA Tournament now."
The Violets will now turn their attention to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Selection Show on Monday, February 27, at 1 p.m. where their postseason fate will be revealed.
In tonight's pivotal win against Brandeis, NYU raced out to a 17-6 lead after a Lipovic trey with 15:20 on the clock. The Judges answered with a 13-2 run to come within three, 19-16, two-and-a-half minutes later.
NYU then outscored Brandeis 15-4 over the next eight minutes of play, taking a 34-20 advantage after back-to-back triples from Lipovic. The Violets maintained a double-digit lead at the break, 43-31, behind 5-of-6 long-range shooting from Lipovic in the first half.
"I came in locked in with the mentality that this is our last guaranteed game, we didn't want to focus on anything in the future, just what's in front of us," Lipovic said. "It (Senior Night) was amazing, the first time my parents got to come to the Brooklyn facility and I had my brothers here, my aunt, my grandma, it was just surreal. I had so much adrenaline the whole day, just anxious and ready to go."
In the second half, NYU went ahead by 15 (57-42) on Cinque Stephens' layup with 11:34 to play. But, Brandeis scored 10 unanswered points over the next three minutes to make it a five-point game, 57-52, with just over eight minutes left.
The Violets responded by rattling off 10 straight points of their own to regain control with a 67-52 edge at the 2:53 mark. Brandeis never came closer than 12 the rest of the way as NYU recorded its fourth double-digit win in its last five outings.
"It was really special," Klatsky said of getting the win on Senior Night. "Those three guys are the heart and soul of this team. It starts with Ephraim, he comes in, plays hard, does exactly what this team needs him to and is just the consummate teammate. And Nik, who has had a heck of a year, and follow that up with Eric who shows up, pushes these guys and has been such a great teammate."
Lipovic shot 6-of-8 from deep for his 18 points, adding two boards, an assist and a steal. Clark shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor while earning his third double-double of the season.
Reed finished with a career-high-tying eight points (3-of-5 FG), four boards and an assist. Spencer Freedman, Zay Freeney and Michael Savarino chipped in seven points apiece for the Violets.