HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 5, 2014) – Senior guards Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.) and Andrew Meszaros (Phoenixville, Pa.) each notched double-doubles as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team rolled into the ECAC Metro Championship semifinals with an 86-69 win over New York University Wednesday night in the Canavan Arena.

With the win the Ducks improve to 18-9 overall. NYU ends its season with an overall record of 16-10. The win is the second of the season for Stevens over the Violets and third in program history.

Stevens will take on the top-seeded College of Staten Island Dolphins in the ECAC Metro Semifinals in Staten Island, N.Y. on Saturday at a TBD time. The Dolphins defeated New Jersey City University, 79-74. The winner will meet the winner of Kean University and Rutgers-Newark for the Metro title on Sunday.

The game was tied six times in the first 8:18 of the action before a 13-5 Violet run changed a 13-all deadlock into a 26-18 lead with 5:20 left in the first.

From that point, the Stevens defense turned up the intensity, holding NYU to just two points the rest of the half, and scoring 14 of its own to take a 32-28 lead into the intermission.

Skrelja started the run with a an old fashioned three-point play, and a made jumper from sophomore guard Evan Klimchak (Readington, N.J.) made it a three-point game with 4:32 left in the first. A layup from senior guard Phillip DeSeignora (Boston, Mass.) brought the Ducks within one, and another Skrelja layup gave the Ducks their first lead since 11-9. A Meszaros jumper on a second-chance bucket created by junior forward Kenny Gan (Hillsborough, N.J.) and a three from Skrelja gave the Ducks a six-point margin, with sophomore forward Evan Kupferberg (Boca Raton, Fla.) making the final bucket of the first period to trim the Duck edge to four.

The Ducks were able to take 10 more shots than NYU in the first half, committing just four turnovers compared to 11 for NYU. Stevens also had nine first-half steals.

The Violets pulled within two points twice before a 10-0 run created some big-time separation between the two squads. Gan converted a layup, Skrelja found Sabatino for a pretty two, Skrelja recorded one of his six steals and turned it into two points, and Skrelja then assisted another Gan layup to make it a 44-32 game with 15:55 remaining.

NYU pulled within six points on several occasions – the last being 58-52 with 9:40 on the clock – but it could get no closer as the Ducks kept great care of the ball and hit big shot after big shot. After the Violets did cut the lead to six, Gan hit a pair at the line and then hit 1-of-2 before a Meszaros tip-in had the Ducks back up 11 points with 8:39 remaining.

From the Meszaros tip through the end of the game, the Ducks maintained a double-digit lead, going up by as many as 20 points on the back of a three-pointer from freshman guard Michael Langford (Staten Island, N.Y.) before taking home the 86-69 win.

Skrelja scored 19 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out eight assists and tallied six steals in what was his final marvelous performance in the Canavan Arena. Skrelja leads the Ducks in scoring, assists and steals and is second in rebounding to classmate Andrew Meszaros who tallied 15 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday in what was also his final time playing at Castle Point.

All five Ducks starters scored in double figures with Klimchak pouring in 17 points, and Gan finishing with 10 points, four boards, four steals and three assists. Sabatino had 13 points, six boards and two blocks, and DeSeignora – another Duck senior – scored seven points, grabbed three rebounds and tallied two steals in his final home contest.

The Ducks shot 47.8 percent (33-for-69) from the field, 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) from three, and 13-for-16 (81.3 percent) at the line. Stevens held a 39-30 edge on the glass, and committed just seven turnovers while dishing out 16 assists. The Ducks had 13 steals as a team, forcing 17 NYU turnovers.

NYU shot 52.7 percent from the field, 4-for-17 from three (23.5 percent) and 7-for-13 at the line.

Check www.stevensducks.com for coverage of the ECAC Metro Championship Thursday.