New York, NY | The College of Staten Island men’s basketball team celebrated Thanksgiving Day weekend with a performance to be thankful for, registering their first win of the season via an 87-67 win over New York University as part of non-league play at NYU’s home site of Hunter College.  The Dolphins improved to 1-4 overall, while the Violets fell to 3-2.

CSI led wire-to-wire in this one, breaking up an early, 2-2, tie with an 11-2 run.  Christian Taylor and Adeola Latunji both notched a pair of fast-break buckets in the run, which was started by a James Delahanty jumper.  NYU would pump the lead down to five on a trio of occasions, the last time at 9:46 on a Dom Cristiano Jumper, but CSI exploded to a 10-0 run, extending to a 27-12 lead, spearheaded by a running lay-up by Andrew Kartalis and a pair of three-pointers by Austin Mick.

Another pair of Kartalis baskets matched the same lead with inside of five minutes to go in the half.  NYU was able to cut the lead to single digits with a Ted Georgiadis three, but CSI answered the call with a Nicholas Taylor three and then a Latunji jumper helped CSI stake a 39-27 lead at the break.

The second half was a continuation of NYU trying to claw their way back in the game, and the home side were successful on several occasions.  Two baskets by Cristiano, cut the deficit to 10, 52-42, at the 12:12 mark, but the constant theme of CSI responding took over.  Chamald Martin poked in a jumper from the baseline, and after a miss, Kartalis drained a three-pointer.  NYU would turn the ball over, and then Taylor struck in a lay-up which was followed by another jumper from Latunji, to make it 61-42 with 10:33 to go.

At 6:14 Cade Hoppe gave the Violets life again with a lay-up to cut the lead to 68-53, but a 10-0 CSI response seemed to shut the door, punctuated by back-to-back three’s from Kartalis and Latunji.  CSI would match their biggest lead of 25 on a pair of occasions before settling for an 87-67.  

CSI shot a season-best 50.8% from the field, led by Latunji’s 20 points.  Kartalis posted a season-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Taylor put in 13 points.  Cristiano led all Violets with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Cameron Moore and Hoppe each put in 10 points.  NYU owned a 43-33 edge in rebounding, but the Dolphins responded by forcing 26 NYU turnovers to their own 13.  The win for CSI broke a 4-4 in the series.

CSI will continue their six-game road swing on Wednesday, November 28, when they visit Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, at 7pm.