Box Score
Championship Ceremony Photo Gallery
The Lehman College men’s basketball team (21-9 Overall, 9-4 CUNYAC) completed its season in successful fashion, winning its first-ever program ECAC Metro NY/NJ Men’s Basketball Tournament crown by defeating the Violets of New York University (17-11) in the event’s championship game by a score of 86-84 Sunday at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in New York.
The victory came not without a dramatic finish. The Lightning led the contest 82-74 with 41 seconds left, but NYU pulled to within 86-84 when D.J. Glavan connected on the first two of his three free throws with three seconds left. Glavan purposely missed his final try, which Richie Polan collected. The ball was jarred loose and ended up in Keith Jensen’s hands, whose off-balance try from about eight feet away missed the mark.
The Lightning got 28 points and 11 rebounds from Tournament Most Outstanding Player Alen Redzic and dominated in the paint, out-scoring the Violets 52-32 down low. Lehman also scored 29 points off turnovers while the Violets netted seven points off of Lehman miscues.
After both teams traded leads and forged ties throughout a good portion of the second half, NYU seized its final lead, 74-73, after Jensen, who scored a team-high 23 points, drained a three-pointer with 3:15 remaining. From there, the Lightning scored nine straight points, including four from Xavier Garvin (16 points), to claim an 82-74 cushion. Four of those tallies came off Violet turnovers.
In the first half, the Lightning raced out to a 22-10 lead nine minutes into the game, but the Violets chipped away at Lehman’s lead and eventually tied the game at 37 as the teams headed into the locker room at halftime.
For the Lightning in the victory, Redzic’s 28 points and 11 boards led the way, and Alain De la Cruz finished with 16 points, while Duane Rhoden added 14 tallies, five boards, four assists and three steals for Lehman. The Lightning shot 50 percent (33-for-66) from the floor and 36.4 percent (4-for-11) from three-point range while going 16-for-23 at the charity stripe compared to just 6-for-9 66.7 percent for NYU.
For NYU, John Mish finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals in his final collegiate contest. Polan contributed 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds while Omar Meziab scored 11 points and Glavan (10 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) enabled the Violets to put all five starters in double digits.
For the Lightning, it was a terrific way to finish the 2008-2009 season. The team’s campaign this year featured many exciting moments, as the Lightning won 21 games while also capturing a game in the quarterfinal round of the CUNYAC tournament and pushing the No. 1 seeded Bearcats to the brink of elimination in the semifinal round of that same event. The Lightning made huge improvements this season, and the team will hope to build on its 2008-2009 ECAC championship when the 2009-2010 tips-off in early November!