ST. LOUIS, MO- The #20 Washington-St. Louis men's basketball team played some tough defense and was impressive in a 72-53 over the #4 University of Rochester at the Wash U Field House on Sunday afternoon.

The Bears (18-4, 8-3 UAA) held Rochester to a season low 31.7% shooting on the day, with UR making just 19-60 field goals and only 6-26 (23.1%) from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Wash U shot the ball well, making 50.8% of its baskets (30-59) and outrebounded the Yellowjackets by 14 on the boards (44-30).

The win keeps Wash U alive in the UAA conference race, just one game behind Rochester who now sits at 20-2 overall, 9-2 in the league. The Bears are in solo second in the UAA, one game ahead of Brandeis and Emory who are 7-4.

After falling behind after a 7-0 WU run in the first two minutes, UR junior Nate Vernon nailed two 3-pointers to tie the game at 8 with 15:50 left in the first half.

Washington would then go on a run and boost its lead to 10 behind a Ben Hoener jumper and Nick Burt layup with 6:50 remaining in the half.

After John DiBartolomeo scored five straight points to cut the lead to five, the Bears closed the half on a 14-0 run. Behind solid play from Chris Klimek inside and Alan Aboona outside, Washington would head to the locker room with a 19 point edge. Both had six points in the run which made the lead at halftime 41-22.

Rochester played the Bears even in the second half and committed no turnovers, but went cold from three point range to not cut into the Wash U lead. The Yellowjackets shot a combined 2-17 (11.8%) from distance in the second half. The misses allowed the Bears to control the glass, outrebounding UR in the second 20 minutes by nine, 25-16.

Both teams recorded 31 points in the half to close the game with the final score of 72-53. Rochester was led by DiBartolomeo who scored 19 points and had four rebounds and four assists. He was the only Yellowjacket in double-figures as Vernon was second on the team with nine. Rob Reid had eight points and four rebounds while Tyler Sankes added six.

For Washington, four players reached double-digit points led by Klimek who ended with 19 on 8-11 shooting. Aboona and Robert Burnett added 11 each with Nick Burt scoring 10 off the bench. Matt Palucki chipped in eight points and 10 rebounds for the Bears.

Washington rebounded from the loss earlier in the season to Rochester when UR defeated the Bears 93-81 at the Louis Alexander Palestra on January 13. The all-time series between the schools now sits at 32-22 in favor of the Bears. They have won 21 of 26 games in St. Louis.