New York University Athletics

• Basketball
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Cross Country
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Fencing
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Golf
  • Men’s Team
• Soccer
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Swimming
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Tennis
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Track & Field
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Volleyball
  • Men’s Team
  • Women’s Team
• Wrestling
  • Men’s Team

Men's Basketball Thwarts #24 Carnegie Mellon Thanks to Mish's Career Game

01/20/08

The highlight of junior center John Mish's career afternoon came when he converted an old-fashioned three-point play, putting the New York University men's basketball team ahead to stay in its 63-58 victory over University Athletic Association (UAA) rival and #24-ranked Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday at Skibo Gymnasium in Pittsburgh.

Fittingly, Mish emerged as the Violets' (10-4, 1-2 UAA) hero, scoring a career-best 24 points. Seventeen of those came in the first half as NYU overcame an early 15-point deficit against the Tartans (10-4, 0-3 UAA).

Sophomore forward Keith Jensen tallied 13 of his 15 points after intermission, and hit all six of his free-throw attempts in the final 32.9 seconds to ice the game, as the Violets went 14-for-14 at the charity stripe in the second half and shot 89.5% (17-for-19) at the line overall.

And with that, NYU earned its first victory this season over a team ranked in the D3hoops.com Top 25 after hanging tough with #2 Brandeis University (66-56 loss on Jan. 12) and #1 University of Rochester (70-54 setback on Friday).

"The win is really big," NYU head coach Joe Nesci said afterward. "Any win in the UAA is big, especially on the road no matter who you play against and especially with our young team."

"We knew they were good," Mish said, "but we didn't think we were that far off after playing the #1 and #2 teams."

NYU trailed 24-9 with 7:54 remaining before the break when Mish started his personal scoring spree and resuscitated the team's sputtering offense. The junior entered the contest with a previous career high of nine points, posted during his freshman year while playing at Catholic University of America. But, he surpassed that mark with 10 tallies as the Violets turned a 17-2 spurt into a 26-26 tie with 2:11 left in the half.

Although NYU trailed 32-28 going into the break, the Violets shot 48.0% (12-for-25). Most of the damage done against the Tartans came courtesy of Mish, who shot 7-for-8 and netted 17 points in 11 first-half minutes.

"We were playing really sluggish. I just wanted to provide some energy," Mish said. "I scored a couple of times and just went off from there. My teammates started looking for me a lot more than usual."

The teams traded leads throughout the second half, with Carnegie Mellon claiming a 53-52 lead after Geoff Kozak canned a three-pointer with 4:31 to go.

However, the Violets responded by throwing it down low to Mish, who drew a foul while banking home a lay-up with 3:22 remaining. After swishing the accompanying free throw to complete the three-point play, NYU held a 55-53 lead. Mish added two more conversions with 91 seconds remaining to make it 57-53.

Ryan Einwag led Carnegie Mellon with 14 points, while Corey O'Rourke contributed 11 points, six assists and four rebounds. Greg Gonzalez added 10 points and six boards for the Tartans.

NYU returns to action Friday, Jan. 25, when it hosts #5 Washington University at 8 p.m. at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Manhattan. It will be the Violets' fourth contest in five games against a team ranked in the D3hoops.com Top 25.