Gotham Classic Comes to a Close

The Houzz Gotham Classic presented by TicketIQ closed with a bang on Wednesday night.

In Louisville, the Cardinals led by 11 points with 9:16 to play only to see the lead disappear before coming back to defeat Albany, 70-68.

A pair of Travis Charles free throws capped off a 13-1 Albany run that put the Great Danes up 61-60 with 5:24 to go in the game. Joe Cremo sandwiched a pair of jumpers around a pair of Quentin Snider free throws to put Albany up 65-62 with 3:55 remaining, giving him nine points during this 5:21 stretch.

At this point, Ray Spalding took over, scoring the next four Louisville points in a 37-second span to give the Cardinals the lead at 66-65 with 1:40 to play. Ryan McMahon’s 3-pointer increased the lead to 69-65 before Albany’s Devante Campbell cut it to 69-68 with a 3-pointer with just 0:17 left. Darius Perry hit 1-of-2 free throws to make it 70-68. Campbell then had a chance to win it at the buzzer but his 3-point attempt failed.

Snider (pictured) ended the game with a high of 19 points. McMahon tallied 15 and Deng Adel had 13 points.

Albany, which outrebounded the larger Cardinals by 52-36 margin and outscored Louisville 13-0 in second chance points, was led by Cremo’s 18 points. David Nichols posted 15 points and seven rebounds, Charles had 12 points and six rebounds, and Alex Foster registered 10 points and 15 rebounds.

In Memphis, the Tigers overcame a 10-point second half deficit and then fought off Siena to claim a 70-66 win.

Siena’s lead peaked at 10 points when the Saints took a 39-29 lead with 18:49 to play. From there, Memphis roared back and built a six-point lead, 60-54, capped by Jeremiah Martin’s jumper with 5:44 remaining. It was then Siena’s turn to come back and that they did, tying the score at 62-62 just under three minutes later on a pair of Evan Fisher free throws.

A pair of free throws each from Kyvon Davenport and Kareem Brewton Jr. put the Tigers up 66-62 with 0:54 to play. Siena’s Roman Penn went 1-of 2 from the line seven seconds later to cut the lead to three. Martin made it 67-63 in favor of Memphis when he went 1-of-2 from the line with 0:32 left. Then Jordan Horn hit a 3-pointer to cut Siena’s deficit to one, 67-66 with 0:24 to go.

Davenport again made both free throws with 0:18 left to put the Tigers up 69-66. Horn missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the score with 0:09 to play. Raynere Thornton made 1-of-2 free throws with 0:05 to go for the final margin of victory.

Martin and Davenport led Memphis with 16 points piece with Davenport also pulling down six rebounds. Thornton posted 13 points and seven boards and Brewton tallied 13 points as well.

Horn led Siena with 24 points. Nico Clareth and Khalil Richard scored 11 points each and Penn netted 10 points.