The #23 New York University men's basketball team earned a huge University Athletic Association (UAA) victory and moved into a tie for first place with a dominating offensive performance, as the Violets won 89-75 at Washington University on Sunday, January 22, in St. Louis, MO.
 
The win was just NYU's (14-1, 4-1) second ever on the Bears' (12-4, 4-1) home court in 26 tries, and it couldn't have been much bigger. The Violets moved into a three-way tie for first in the UAA with Washington and #8 Emory University, and NYU has now beaten both squads in their first meetings this season.
 
The victory also gave the Violets a sweep of the UAA Midwest trip for the first time in school history, as the squad won 81-71 at the University of Chicago on Friday night. The Midwest sweep was just the fifth in the history of UAA men's basketball.
 
NYU's offense was nearly unstoppable in the win, as the squad shot a season-high 66.0% (31-47) from the field. Kyle Stockmal poured in 24 points to lead the way, shooting 7-8 from the field, 4-4 from three-point range and 6-8 from the free-throw line. Andy Stein (17 points), Carl Yaffe (15 points) and Ryan Tana (12 points) also scored in double figures.
 
"I thought we executed really well against a good defensive team," said head coach Joe Nesci. "We found the open man and made a lot of jumpers. We're playing very well, very hard and together right now."
 
The Violets used a huge run early in the first half to build separation. The Bears led 7-4 before NYU went off, going on a 17-1 run in which the team shot 7-9 from the floor and got three-pointers from Stein, Stockmal and Tana. The big spurt put the Violets up 21-8 just 7:28 in.
 
Washington responded with a run of its own, 11-2, to cut the deficit to four at 23-19 after back-to-back layups by Matt Palucki. A Zeve Sanderson three and a Tana layup stopped the bleeding and put NYU back up nine, and the squad eventually took an 11-point halftime lead, 38-27, after a pair of Stockmal free throws.
 
Kyle Stockmal buried a quick three to start the second half, but the Bears owned the early stages of the period, pulling to within six at the 16:03 mark after a Brayden Teuscher trey.
 
Yaffe and Max Wein helped stem the tide after that, and a 10-2 run during which Cory Stockmal had five points put the Violet lead all the way at 16 with 10:32 left. Washington got as close as eight, but NYU had a response offensively for every Bear basket and eventually put the lead back as high as 16.
 
"I thought Washington's execution was good – we really had to battle them," commented Nesci. "But we did a good job of cleaning up the boards. Kyle was tremendous again and did an excellent job on the defensive end, too."
 
Stockmal scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half and added four assists. Yaffe dished out a game-high eight assists with just one turnover to go with his 15 points, while Tana had six rebounds and six helpers. Wein pitched in with six points, four boards and five assists.
 
Dylan Richter led Washington with 18 points despite shooting just 7-23 from the field. Chirs Klimek added 10 points and four rebounds, while Ben Hoener had seven points and six assists off the bench.
 
The Violets return to action on Friday night for a Tear It Up! home UAA game against Carnegie Mellon University. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 pm.