Led by tournament MVP John DiBartolomeo, the University of Rochester men's basketball team won its 11th Wendy's Classic Tournament Title with a 73-64 win over Hobart College Saturday night at the Palestra.
 
The 11th title is the most all time among men's Wendy's Classic schools.  Hobart was seeking back to back titles with former UR Head Coach Mike Neer at the helm.  It was an unfamiliar bench Neer and turned into a mostly unfamiliar result for the Hobart head man with the loss.
 
DiBartolomeo ended with a game high 29 points and also grabbed 8 rebounds and had 6 assists.  Nate Vernon had 18 points and four rebounds for Rochester (8-0).  Hobart had three men in double figure scoring led by Richie Bonney's 19 points.  Stefan Thompson, last year's tournament MVP had 12 points and Conner Rehbaum chipped in 10 for the Statesmen (3-3).
 
The championship game started very evenly during the first 10 minutes.  Hobart achieved the biggest lead in the first half at five, 16-11, after Rehbaum hit a long free from the left corner with 10:39 remaining.
 
A big Rob Reid block and smooth DiBartolomeo 3-pointer tied the game at 20 with seven minutes left in the half.  The first session featured three ties and five lead changes with neither team getting a lead bigger than five.  Stefan Thomson swished a half court buzzer beater to send the teams to the locker room only one point apart, UR leading 28-27.
 
Early in the second half, with 18:18 left, the Yellowjackets matched the game high five point lead after a DiBartolomeo layup pushed the score to 34-29.
 
Hobart was able to grab its first lead of the second half at 39-38 when Joe Gibbons hit a traditional three point play.  The teams exchanged buckets and contributed to 13 lead changes in the game.  With 10 minutes remaining, the lead still remained one in favor of the Yellowjackets.
 
A big Thompson 3-pointer tied the score up at 46, but DiBartolomeo answered right back with an ankle breaking juke that led to a wide open three point basket.  Bonney then slammed home a dunk to silence the Palestra crowd.
 
With two minutes left, the biggest lead of the game was now eight after two DiBartolomeo free throws and a Tyler Sankes layup.  Hobart was able to battle back thanks to some shaky free throw shooting by the Yellowjackets, getting within five after a Thompson layup and another Statesmen free throw.
 
After another missed free throw by UR, Bonney came down and had a chance to cut the lead to two after making a layup and was fouled, but his attempt from the charity stripe rattled out and UR grabbed the rebound.  DiBartolomeo then settled down and hit two free throws to push the lead to five and seal the victory.  Vernon and Dan Shapiro added two free throws each to make the score 73-64.
 
Sankes ended with eight points and nine rebounds while Reid finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks for UR.  For his efforts on the glass, Sankes earned a spot on the All-Classic 1st Team along with Vernon, Bonney and Thompson and Tyshun Stevens from Nazareth.
 
The tournament MVP was DiBartolomeo as he scored 79 points, grabbed 23 rebounds and had 15 assists.  He also was 21-23 from the free throw line and made 15 three pointers.
 
UR's next game is a tilt at Hamilton College on Wednesday at 7 pm.  The Yellowjackets welcome the Statesmen back to the Palestra one week from today on Saturday at 4 pm.