CHICAGO, IL - The University of Rochester men's basketball team got a career-high 30 points from sophomore Sam Borst-Smith, but it wasn't enough as the Yellowjackets fell to 23rd-ranked University of Chicago 88-81 on Friday night at the Ratner Athletics Center.
Rochester drops to 4-9 overall and 0-2 in the UAA while Chicago, the preseason UAA favorite goes to 10-3 and 2-0 in the UAA.
Besides Borst-Smith's career night, three other UR players were in double figures. Jared Seltzer scored 14 points while Tyler Seidman hit three 3-pointers en route to 11 points. Junior Dylan Peretz added 10 points and 13 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year.
Chicago was paced by Jordan Smith who scored 21 points. Waller Perez added 18 points and five boards while Alex Voss was 5-7 from the floor, 3-4 from 3-point range for 16 points. Nate Brooks had a double-double inside with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The first half was very evenly played, with neither team building a lead bigger than five points. At the break Chicago held a one point lead, the second straight game Rochester went to the locker room trailing by one.
Early in the second half, the Yellowjackets were able to take leads a 47-46 and 49-48, but the resilient Maroons were able to hold off the visitors.
Blaine Crawford scored his only five points of the night in a key two possession stretch with under 12 minutes to go that gave Chicago a 55-50 lead. That ignited a 20-8 spurt which saw the Maroons lead build to 14 at 71-57 with 4:35 on the clock.
Down the stretch, UR applied pressure and got some UC missed free throws getting within four in the final minute, but Collin Barthel and Perez made 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
Overall for the night, Rochester shot 30-65 (46%) from the floor while the Maroons were 31-58 (53%) shooting. Chicago benefitted from 10 3-pointers made while UR sank six treys. UR was 15-19 (79%) shooting free throws while the Maroons were 16-32 (50%).
Rochester will look to get into the UAA win column on Sunday when it travels to St. Louis for a matchup with Washington University, the #6 ranked team in the country. Tip time is slated for 1 pm (eastern time).