The NCAA tournament returned to Madison Square Garden for the first time in more than 50 years — but the best fast break in town might have been outside the arena.
An Ivy League track star who was duped into buying two bogus tickets ran after the alleged scammer peddling the fake ducats — and caught him after nearly 20 blocks.
The Ivy Leaguer, a 20-year-old finance major, probably should have known that the Craigslist ad offering two tickets for $210 each to the hottest sporting event in the city was too good to be true.
After all, prices for the Sweet Sixteen double-header at the Garden were going for up to $900, even more than tickets cost for the upcoming Final Four in Indianapolis.
But the Ivy League victim met up with the phony salesman outside the arena anyway, trading his cash for two inkjet printouts of tickets that were worth about as much as a pair of takeout menus.
“I have never been to Madison Square Garden,” said the student, who didn’t want his name used for fear of reprisal. “So I was really looking forward to it.”
But when the guy and his friend presented the printouts to an MSG ticket taker before game time, they were told they were fake.
The pals then immediately concocted a plan to catch the crook.
They still had the hustler’s number, so the friend called the seller and pretended that he wanted more tickets. When the alleged crook arrived at a meeting place, the track star confronted him and demanded his money back.
“He just thought I was some other random customer at first, and he didn’t even recognize me,” the student said.
“Then, I pulled out the tickets he scammed me with.”
The seller reached into his pocket as if he was retrieving the man’s money but then turned and fled.
“I was running after him screaming, ‘Help! Help!’ ” the student recalled. “He was much bigger than me. But I got him.”
A pedestrian helped the fleet-footed student subdue the alleged scam artist along West 50th Street, about 17 blocks from the arena, until police arrived.
Cops arrested Lionel Moye, 23, and charged him with possession of a forged instrument plus assault for allegedly biting the 39-year-old Samaritan who helped the student apprehend him.