NEW YORK CITY – The Arcadia University men's basketball team looked to continue its season opening four-game win streak as it took on New York University (NYU) in the NYU Tip Off Tournament. The Knights trailed by as many as 18 in the first half, however a strong second half comeback attempt fell just short as the Scarlet and Grey fell 90-87.
 
A fast paced start saw eight points on the board in the game's opening minute. The Knights got their only lead of the first half as Phil Pierfy scored the team's first points with a three 40 seconds in. It would be the hosts, however, that built a sizeable lead of as many as 18.  
 
The Violet went on a 12-0 run over just more than four minutes long fueled by a dunk by Patrick Burns and ended with six straight points from Costis Gontika for a 19-5 lead with just under 13 minutes to play. Josh Scott put an end to the run with a jumper before Keith Bacote notched six points in a 28 second span to trim the deficit to 21-13 with 10 minutes left in the half.
 
Trailing by 13 with 3:40 to go, the Scarlet and Grey went on a 9-0 run behind efficient free throw shooting as Pierfy converted five, and Scott another for six of the run's nine points. The deficit was 39-32 with a minute and a half to go; the Violet finished the half on a 6-2 run to go to the break with a 45-34 lead.
 
Pierfy led the way for the Knights with eight points and three rebounds in the half. Scott deposited seven points on 2 of 3 shooting. The Knights shot 30.3% from the field in the opening stanza.
 
After NYU's Ross Udine opened the second half with a three-pointer, Arcadia trimmed the deficit to seven with a 9-2 spurt sparked by an Evan Slone layup and capped by a John Landro three to bring Arcadia within six at 52-46 with 16:26 remaining. The teams alternated short runs leading to the Violet opening an 11 point lead only to have the Knights score seven of the next nine points to cut the lead back to six at 64-58.
 
Four straight points from Ryan Kelley and a layup from Slone brought the Knights within three as the scoreboard showed 76-73 with six and half minutes remaining. Landro made the gap even closer as he converted a pair of free throws a minute later to pull the Knights within one.
 
Pierfy gave Arcadia its first lead since the opening minute with 3:44 remaining in the half as the rookie scored four straight points capped by a layup from Kelley. Kelley expanded the lead to three with just over three minutes to go before Udine drained a three to tie the game with 2:45 to go.
 
Trailing by one with two seconds left, Landro missed an open three in the corner. Following a foul on the rebound, NYU's Even Kupferberg made two free throws to seal the game.
 
Arcadia outscored the Violet 53-45 in the second half as it shot 54.8% as a team in the final 20 minutes. Free throw shooting proved key in the Knights comeback as the team converted 13 of 14 attempts.
 
A season-best 22 point on 7 of 11 shooting performance from Scott led the Knights offense, while he tied for a team-high four rebounds. Pierfy added 16 points, while Kelley contributed 12 to round out the double-figure scorers. The Knights shot 42.2% from the field for the game, with 42.9% shooting from distance.
 
Udine dropped 33 points for the Violet while Kupferberg (23 pts, 14 reb) and Gontikas (22 pts, 10 reb) recorded double-doubles. The Violet move to 2-0 on the season.
 
Landro and Pierfy were named to the All-Tournament Team.

The 4-1 Knights return to action following Thanksgiving, as they host Misericordia in the home opener at 4 p.m.