ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The RV Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team came up with a big win over No. 12 NYU on Friday evening in the Field House, beating the Violets 72-61. The Bears are now 16-7 overall with a 6-6 mark in UAA play.
 
Junior Hayden Doyle led the Bears' efforts with 25 points, three rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Sophomore Will Grudzinski netted 10 points with eight rebounds and junior Kyle Beedon had 10 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Yogi Oliff pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds.
 
It was a fight from the opening tip as NYU got on the board first with a 3-pointer from Zay Freeney. Following a jumper from sophomore Calvin Kapral, the Violets went up 5-2.
 
Grudzinski drilled a shot from distance to make it a 5-5 game and Kapral tied things up again at 7-7 with a layup. The Violets' Spencer Freedman – who led all scorers with 35 points – hit a 3-pointer but first-year Emmett Lawton evened the score again with a longball to make it 10-10 with 15:43.
 
WashU took its first lead of the game after a Beedon steal resulted in a 3-pointer from Doyle for a 13-12 edge at the 14:46 mark.
 
Back-to-back 3-pointers and a pair of free throws for NYU made it a 20-13 game with 12:00 on the clock. A jumper from Freeney at the 9:30 mark extended the Violets' lead to nine points, 24-15. The Bears, however, answered with buckets from first-year Jake Davis and Grudzinski to close the gap to five points.
 
After NYU went up 28-19 with 5:32 remaining in the first half, WashU went on a 7-0 run to make it a two-point, 28-26 game. Davis drilled a shot from behind the arc and followed it with a layup, and Oliff closed out the run with a fastbreak layup.
 
Down seven with 42 seconds left in the first half, Beedon hit back-to-back longballs to head into halftime down just one point, 33-32.
 
Beedon got things going out of the gate in the second half, netting a jumper to give the Bears a 34-33 edge.
 
The teams traded baskets over the next several minutes, tied at 34, 37 and 39. NYU broke the tie with four-straight points from Freedman. The Violets maintained a slight advantage over the Bears, up as many as seven points, 51-44, at the 12:25 mark.
 
Down six with 8:01 remaining, Doyle hit a jumper to make it a four-point game before the Bears called a timeout. Out of the huddle, the Bears came up with a defensive stop and Doyle went down to hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point, 57-56 game.
 
The Bears ultimately took a lead with 4:24 on the clock on a jumper from Kapral. Oliff and Kapral each hit a free throw and Doyle netted a pair of free throws for a 64-59 lead with 1:11 remaining. Doyle then put in a fastbreak layup and two more free throws for a nine-point, 68-59 lead with 42 on the clock.
 
Doyle ended the game with four more free throws, pushing the Bears' lead into double digits and ending it at 72-61.
 
The Bears return to action on Sunday at home with a 12 p.m. game against Brandeis.