Men's Hoopsters Vanquish NYU

The Yellowjackets continued to run into turbulence en route to the NCAA tournament, narrowly escaping the New York University Violets 79-70 in a double-overtime thriller last Sunday night in New York. Junior forward Andy Larkin had the game winning dunk, jamming two points for the win with 6.6 seconds remaining in the second overtime. The Yellowjackets improved to 21-1 overall – 10-1 in the UAA – while the Violets fall to 18-4 in their first loss in six games.Junior guard Gabe Perez and junior forward Seth Hauben combined for a total 48 points during the contest. Hauben continued a weekend scoring run that saw him pass the 1,000-point mark versus Brandeis University, making the Massachusetts native the 22nd player in school history to do so. Senior center Brian Jones and junior guard Ryan Mee each notched 10 points in the NYU game.The Violets started off powerfully, taking an early lead and keeping it for the first half to send the Yellowjackets to the locker rooms at the break with a 33-28 deficit. NYU continued to control the pace of the action in the second half, allowing the visitors to take only periodic leads of a point or two before meeting the challenge and maintaining the status quo. Hauben rolled a quick lay-up with 40 seconds left in regulation to tie things up at 59-59, but UR looked to be in trouble as the Violets rebounded with a clutch three-pointer by Michael DeCorso to put NYU up 62-59 with eight seconds remaining. With the clock frozen at 00:04, Head Coach Mike Neer called a timeout to plan for one last play to hopefully tie the score and send the game into overtime.Back on the court, Perez drove up the court, stopped at the circle and launched a jump shot from behind the three-point line. The ball hit the backboard and banked in the net, giving the Yellowjackets a three-point shot in the arm as the buzzer rang the end of regulation play.NYU player Daniel Falcon started the first five-minute overtime period with a two-point jumper that edged the score 64-62 in favor of the home team. The Yellowjackets were given a chance to make up the difference a moment later as DeCorso drew a technical foul that sent Mee to the free-throw line. After connecting on both charity shots, UR took the lead with a lay-up by Hauben. The Violets sank a three-pointer to match things up and take the action into a second overtime.It was a battle of wills as both teams tried to match each others’ intensity as the whistle blew for the second overtime period. However, the Yellowjackets dominated play as they shut out the Violets offensively while tacking on another 12 points to finish the exhausting game with a 79-70 win.The Yellowjackets return home to Rochester for a pair of games against UAA rivals this coming week. They are the last two home games before taking a jaunt to Pittsburgh to end the regular season versus Carnegie Mellon University. The Yellowjackets, who are one game ahead of Washington University in St. Louis in the UAA, must go 3-0 to finish out the season to win the UAA title and a bid to the national tournament. If UR lose a game and the Washington University Bears go undefeated in the home stretch then UR must win an at-large bid to the tournament, a much more uncertain fate. The Yellowjackets hope to pack the Louis Alexander Palestra this weekend for its final two home contests of the season. Friday’s tip-off is at 8 p.m. against Case Western Reserve University. Sunday’s tip-off is at 1 p.m. against Emory. UR will honor its seniors Markedo Wisseh, Brian Jones, Andy Larkin, and Mackey Bergman-Clark.Schloss can be reached at aschloss@campustimes.org.