Tartans Win 70-66 in Big Apple Over NYU

(NEW YOR, N.Y.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team was back in action Sunday afternoon in New York against the Violets of New York University and came away with a 70-66 University Athletic Association (UAA) win. The Tartans move to 10-12 and 5-6 in UAA play while the Violets are now 7-15, 1-10.

Senior Seth Henry (Fulton, Md./Reservoir) led the way with 15 points while junior Trent Suddeth (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep) finished with 11. Junior Cooper Williams (Meriden, N.H./Kimball Union Academy) ended with eight points and sophomore Joey Krempa (Linden, N.J.) chipped in with seven points and tied a career-best with four assists. Junior Colin McNeil (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) recorded a game-high six assists and score six points in the win.

Dom Cristiano led NYU with a game-high 23 points. Jimmy Martinelli scored 10.

NYU started the game on a 10-3 run and pushed its lead to 31-21 with 4:09 to play in the first half. Carnegie Mellon then held the Violets without a basket the remainder of the frame, as the visitors closed with an 18-2 run. During the scamper, the Cardinal and Gray connected on 6-of-8 from the floor and were perfect from behind the arc making all four attempts. The spurt started with a triple and an and-one by Krempa before Williams drained a trey of his own from the far corner of the hardwood.

Carnegie Mellon started the second half on an 8-2 run and led 47-35 with 15:16 to play. After a layup by Henry which made the score 49-38, NYU used a 12-3 run to cut the score to 52-50 at the halfway mark of the second half. Four straight foul shots by the Tartans pushed the lead to 56-50 a minute later. The Tartans led 65-57 with 4:45 to play and following a timeout by NYU, the Violets rattled off nine straight and took a 66-65 lead with 2:50 to play.

On the Tartans ensuing possession, junior Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J./St. John Vianney) put Carnegie Mellon back on top with a layup. The Cardinal and Gray forced an offensive foul by the Violets on the next transition which then led to a bucket by Suddeth to give Carnegie Mellon a 69-66 lead with 1:59 on the clock. The score remained the same until McNeil connected on a free throw with 8.1 seconds to seal the win.

Carnegie Mellon will return home on Friday, February 15 for an 8:00 p.m. tip against the Yellow Jackets of the University of Rochester.