Men’s Basketball Has Strong Second Half to Defeat New York 68-60

Feb. 15 – (NEW YORK, N.Y.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men’s basketball team traveled to New York City Friday night to take on the Violets of NYU in University Athletic Association (UAA) play. Four Tartans in double figures helped Carnegie Mellon to a 68-60 victory over the Violets. The Tartans move to 14-7, 4-6 following the win, as the Violets are now 14-7, 5-5.

Carnegie Mellon didn't trail over the first sixteen minutes and with 4:10 left in the first half the NYU bench was called for a technical foul. The call resulted in two made foul shots by senior Greg Gonzalez (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) giving the Cardinal and Gray a 25-23 advantage. That was the last time the Tartans would score for the remaining of the half, as the Violets scored 11 straight to take the 34-25 lead at the break.

NYU went into the locker room shooting 56.5% from the field to Carnegie Mellon’s 33.3%. Violet freshman Richie Polan led all scorers at the half with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. NYU controlled the paint scoring 18 points from inside to the Tartans eight, but Carnegie Mellon converted five three-pointers to NYU’s three.

Halfway through the second half the Tartans put together a 15-6 run tying the score at 51-51 off a trey by Gonzalez with 8:13 left in regulation. The following possession Polan answered Gonzalez’s three with one of his own giving the Violets a three-point lead.

Following Polan’s three, Tartans junior Ryan Einwag (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) connected on four straight foul shots to give Carnegie Mellon their first lead at 55-54 since the 3:18 mark of the first half. Once again Polan answered for the Violets scoring on a lay-up giving the lead back to NYU. Junior Terrance Bouldin-Johnson (Tukwila, Wash./O’Dea) wasted little time regaining the advantage for the visiting team scoring a jumper on the Tartans next trip down the court giving them a 57-56 lead with 6:00 remaining.

With 1:35 on the clock and three seconds showing on the shot clock sophomore Jack Anderson (Beaver Falls, Pa.) drilled a three-pointer for the Tartans giving them their biggest lead of the game, 64-58, and securing the victory. Carnegie Mellon outscored NYU 43-26 in the second half to walk out of the Big Apple with a 68-60 victory.

The Tartans shot 52% in the second half to the Violets 36%. For the sixteenth time this season Carnegie Mellon had the edge on the glass hauling 31 rebounds to NYU’s 30. The Cardinal and Gray was led by Einwag’s 18, Anderson’s 15, Bouldin-Johnson’s 12 and Gonzalez’s 11 points. Gonzalez recorded his seventh double-double of the season after grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds. Bouldin-Johnson had a career-high four blocks in the win and senior Geoff Kozak (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) dished out six assists.

For NYU, Polan ended with a game-high 19 points and junior John Mish had 16.

The Tartans will be back on the hardwood Sunday, February 17, as they travel to Waltham, Mass. to play the 10th-ranked Judges of Brandeis University for their last regular season road game. The UAA contest is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.