How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
When it comes to basketball, the NYU School of Law reigns supreme.
NYU Law defeated Columbia Law School 72-66 in the fourth annual Deans' Cup Charity Basketball game last night, for the third year in a row. The victory took place at Coles Sports Center in front of a no-holds-barred crowd. The game raised more than $75,000 from law firms to donate to both law schools' public interest law centers.
'It's an official dynasty,' said Isaac Gradman, a third-year law student on the NYU Law team. 'It's up to the teams of future years to live up to that.'
NYU Law was down 34-43 at half-time, but the home team said they weren't discouraged.
'Last [year] we were down 15 at half, so it's not a situation we haven't been in before,' said Chukwuemeka Onyejekwe, a second-year law student on the team. 'We had to clamp down on defense. Our coach and a lot of the other players emphasized defense, defense, defense in the second half.'
The NYU and Columbia rivalry came alive, with each school's crowd overflowing in the bleachers at Coles. NYU Law fans chanted 'Overrated!'and contested every foul against NYU by chanting 'Bullshit!' The Columbia Law spectators held up signs that said 'Safety School,' and letters that spelled out 'N-Y-P-O-O' and 'N-Y-B-O-O.' Two minutes into the 10-minute faculty half-time game, which NYU won 9-2, a male NYU Law streaker burst onto the court with 'CLS Sucks!' written on his back.
The law school squad said it found encouragement from both the rivalry and the lively crowd.
'It's good to see this competition and I think it's healthy competition,' Gradman said. 'Columbia has a great crowd and I'm glad to see them come out here and cheer hard, but I'm equally glad to send them home disappointed.'
Before the game, champion donor firm Morgan Lewis presented a $7,500 check to Deans' Cup co-chair and NYU Law team member Julie D'Ambruoso, a third-year law student. The money raised from law firm donations, game ticket and T-shirt sales last night will be donated to both schools to help fund stipends for each schools' respective law students.
The Deans' Cup tradition started in 2002, organized by three Columbia law students and three NYU law students to raise money for both law schools' public interest law centers. NYU Law lost the inaugural Deans' Cup game, which raised $25,000, but NYU Law took the title home in 2003 and 2004, with the game raising more than $40,000.
As the dollar amount raised has grown, so has the popularity of the game. The Deans' Cup has become one of the biggest events at the law school. Tryouts for this year's game in early February drew approximately 40 law students, but only 16 made it to the squad, D'Ambruoso said.
'I couldn't walk down the street without people mentioning it or asking, 'Are you excited?' ' D'Ambruoso said. 'People here get really into it. We don't really have a big sports program here at NYU, so it's nice to have a real athletic event for us to rally behind.'
