DANVILLE, VA- Playing less than an hour outside his hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, University of Rochester senior Nate Vernon led the University of Rochester to an 89-78 victory over Averett University on Wednesday afternoon.
The Yellowjackets (6-5) squared off against the Cougars (3-8) as a part of their southern road trip heading to Emory University this Saturday. The meeting was the first ever between the two schools.
Vernon closed the game scoring Rochester's last seven points and finished with a game high 22 points and pulled down six rebounds. He hit two 3-pointers and was 8-8 from the free throw line.
"It was great playing so close to home, and was really nice to have many of my family and close friends come watch the game," said the senior Vernon.
After fouling a 3-point shooter on Averett with 2:22 remaining in the game which allowed the Cougars to cut the UR lead to just four, Vernon responded with a clutch 3-pointer on the next possession to boost the 'Jacket lead to seven with two minutes on the clock.
After a Cougar miss on the other end, Rochester's Jared Seltzer and Tyler Sankes both pulled down offensive boards on the next possession to kill off over a minute 10 seconds of game time to seal the victory.
Vernon led four UR players in double figures as Sankes added 17 points and eight rebounds while freshman Mack Montague chipped in 15 points in his first career start. Classmate Sam Borst-Smith had 13 points and five steals off the bench for the Yellowjackets.
Averett also had four scorers in double digit scoring with Trevor West leading the way with 16 points and seven assists. Alex Lopez had 15 points and Cody Stephens added 13 points and nine boards off the Cougar bench. Bradley Robinson chipped in 10 points.
The Cougars went into the break with a five point lead after closing the period with a 10-2 run, capped by a JaColby Hawkins jumper. Hawkins had six of the 10 Averett points in the spurt.
In the second half, Rochester started strong, scoring nine of the first 12 points to grab the lead at 46-45 with 17:24 to play.
After Averett went back up by four points, a Tyler Sankes conventional three point play ignited a 16-4 run that eventually gave the Yellowjackets an eight point lead at 62-54 with 11:30 left in the game.
"We wanted to have good momentum heading into the tough UAA conference schedule," said UR Head Coach Luke Flockerzi, "We definitely played our brand of basketball in the second half."
With 7:52 remaining, junior Alex Hoey nailed his second trey of the game to boost the 'Jacket lead to a game high 11 points before the host Cougars went on an 11-5 run to trim the lead to five with just under five to play.
Overall, the game was fairly balanced with seven ties and eight lead changes. Rochester ended up winning the rebound battle 40-39 and made 10 3-pointers to Averett's nine. The 'Jackets shot a combined 47.4% (27-57) from the floor while the Cougars shot at a 40.6% (28-69) clip.
The Yellowjackets end non-conference play with a 6-5 record and have 14 games remaining on their schedule, all coming in UAA conference play beginning with traveling to Emory University on Saturday.