BY ROBERT ELKIN | This is the time of year — late February through early March — when college basketball conferences stage their post-season tournaments. The winner of each conference then gets an automatic bid into the very prestigious NCAA tournament.
But that certainly doesn’t go for colleges that play an independent or nonleague schedule. They compete on their own. Such was the case with The Cooper Union and The New School, two Downtown schools not traditionally known for high-powered sports programs.
These two teams, along with Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Rhode Island School of Design, joined together to compete in the Second Annual NASBI, or Northeast Art School Basketball Invitational, hosted by Baruch College last Saturday and Sunday.
It just was too bad that this tourney didn’t provide closer games. For the most part, the contests were runaways. But some of the student athletes did perform very well on the court, to the excitement of the fans, as well as parents and friends of the competitors.
Cooper Union’s teamwork, defense and offense, led by Vlad Ciocoi’s 26 points, along with Adam Jamia-O-Connor’s 10 rebounds and Andrew Keane’s 11 boards, paved the way to a 74-60 victory over The New School and to the NASBI championship.
When Andrey Kovalev converted a layup with 15:19 left in the second half, Cooper enjoyed a 19-point bulge and the outcome was just about over at that time.
The Hawks actually didn’t hold the edge over the Narwhals in many categories during the contest, yet still managed to pull out the win. They shot 51 percent from the field to New School’s 33 percent. But the latter shot 62 percent to Cooper’s 33 percent from the charity line. The battle on the boards was even: Each team hauled in 40 rebounds.
Defensively, Cooper stole the ball 10 times, while New School had 14 steals.
The Hawks committed 23 turnovers while The New School coughed up the ball 16 times.
The New School’s Benjamin Irving stood out by corralling 14 caroms, yet it didn’t offset the board-crashing duo of Jamia-O-Connor and Keane. Kovalev’s 12 assists led the playmakers.
“We suffered a tough loss,” said David Privat-Gilman, The New School squad’s head coach. “We’re 1 and 2 against them this year. Coming into the tournament, we were looking for first place, but we got second, which was pretty good. Coming into the game, our plan was to let them shoot, and the stats are usually in our favor.”
Instead it went in Cooper Union’s favor.
“We couldn’t really stay together as they made big runs,” Privat-Gilman added. “Cooper came out and played a heck of a game.”
The Hawks were flying high in the first half, blowing it open thanks to some good runs, and led 42-27 at halftime.
The real key for the winners, however, was teamwork, and specifically stopping the Narwhals’ scorers from putting the ball in the basket.
Also critical for Cooper Union was breaking the Narwhals’ press and executing and communicating. according to Rami Said, the Hawks’ head coach, and his players. Right from the outset, Cooper displayed good team chemistry. (After all, they are known for their Engineering School!)
On Saturday evening, in the semifinals, The New School routed Massachusetts College of the Arts and Design, 101-19 (that’s right!), as six Hawks scored in double figures, while Cooper Union, in a tougher contest, turned back RISD, 86-60.
In Sunday morning’s consolation game, RISD made a mess of MassArt 92-46, as Connor Griffith racked up 30 points and teammate Forest O’Donoghue added 23 and Michael Moyal grabbed 11 rebounds.
Afterward, players and coaches alike said it had been a tremendous tournament.
