New York, N.Y., Feb. 15, 2013 – The No. 17-ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit with less than two minutes left to pull to within one, but New York University made three free throws in the final 10 seconds to seal an 86-82 win in University Athletic Association (UAA) action over the Bears Friday night in New York.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Washington U., and dropped the Bears to 18-5 overall and 8-4 in the UAA. New York U. improved to 14-9 overall and 4-8 in the UAA with the win. Washington U. sits in a three-way tie for second place in the UAA standings with Brandeis University (17-6, 8-4 UAA) and Emory University (16-6, 8-4 UAA). The Bears travel to Waltham, Mass., to take on Brandeis at 11 a.m. (ET) Sunday, Feb. 17. The Judges earned a 75-56 win over the University of Chicago Friday night.
After trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, Washington U. went on a 9-2 run, including five-straight points by junior guard Alan Aboona, to trim the lead to 67-60 with 4:43 left. The Violets pushed their lead back to 10 (75-65) on a three-point play by Carl Yaffe with 1:49 remaining. Washington U. chipped away at the lead, and a three-point play by sophomore forward Nick Burt made it 82-80 in favor of NYU with 16 seconds left.
After the Violets made the front end of a two-shot free-throw situation, junior forward Chris Klimek grabbed the rebound and pushed it ahead to junior guard Tim Cooney. Cooney drew a foul and sank both free throws to make it a one-point (83-82) game with 7.5 seconds on the clock. After a timeout by NYU, the Bears fouled Ryan Tana, who made both free throws to extend the lead back to three (85-82). NYU immediately fouled senior guard Ben Hoener, but he missed the first free throw to keep it a three-point deficit. After intentionally missing the second free throw, Hoener nearly scooped up the rebound, but had it poked away by Tana, who was fouled with less than two seconds left and made one of two free throws to seal the win for the Violets.
New York U. jumped out to a 10-2 lead after making five of its first six shots of the game. The Bears started 1-of-5 from the field, but scored six-straight points to make it a two-point game with 15:06 left in the first half. The Violets pushed the lead back to nine (28-19) on a steal and layup by Tana with 8:12 remaining in the half, but a 7-0 run by Aboona over the next 90 seconds brought the Bears to within 28-26. NYU extended its lead to double figures (40-30) on a three-pointer by Tana with less than two minutes left in the half, before heading to halftime with a 42-34 lead over the Bears.
The Violets extended their lead to 12 (51-39) on a layup by Kyle Stockmal with 16:10 remaining. Washington U. went on a 10-2 run over the next three minutes on four points by Cooney and back-to-back three-pointers by sophomore forward Matt Palucki to pull to within 53-49 with 13:12 on the clock. New York U. answered with a 12-2 run over the next 5:23 to take its largest lead of the game (65-51) with 7:49 to play. The Violets scored 21 of their last 25 points of the game at the foul line.
Washington U. shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) from the field, including 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from three-point range. The Violets shot 56.3 percent (27-of-48) from the field, and finishing 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) from beyond the arc. Free throws were the difference in the game, as NYU finished 24-of-39, including 22-of-31 in the second half, while Washington U. was 17-of-27 for the game at 11-of-21 in the second half. Both teams finished with 31 rebounds.
Palucki led five players in double figures for the Bears with 16 points, including a career-best 4-of-5 from three-point range, and a team-high eight rebounds. Aboona added 15 points, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. Cooney finished with a season-high 14 points, five assists and career-highs of three blocks and four steals. Klimek and Hoener chipped in with 12 points each. Klimek also pulled down seven rebounds, while Hoener dished out a team-high six assists.
Tana scored 25 points to lead NYU. Devin Karch (22 points, nine rebounds, four blocks), Stockmal (20 points), and Yaffe (12 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, three blocks) also scored in double figures for the Violets.
Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series against NYU 39-13 … New York had dropped seven of its last eight games entering the contest … Palucki has pulled down eight or more rebounds in 17 of 23 games this season … Klimek has scored in double figures in 19 of 23 games.