#7 ranked Washington University in St. Louis scored seven points in the last 76 seconds to rally to beat the University of Rochester men's basketball team on Friday night at the Palestra.
The Bears (15-2, 6-0 UAA) held Rochester without a field goal in the last 3:55 of the contest to battle back from a UR lead that was as large as 12 late in the first half.
Rochester (7-10, 1-5 UAA) used 15 made 3-pointers to keep the Bears at bay for most of the contest, but some key second half turnovers and Washington's strong board work on the offensive end eventually sent the Yellowjackets to their fourth consecutive defeat. The 15 treys by UR is the second most this season and fifth most in school history. The four straight losses is the first time that has happened since the 2009-10 season.
UR was led by sophomore Jared Seltzer who scored a career high 16 points off the bench on 5-6 shooting including going a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown. He led four 'Jackets in double figures as Kevin Sheehy added 14 points on four treys while Mack Montague added 12 points and six rebounds. Sam Borst-Smith chipped in 11 points and team high seven rebounds.
Rochester used a 12-0 spurt to break open a 20 all game over a four minute span late in the first half to build its biggest lead of the night. Senior Nate Vernon and Borst-Smith made 3-pointers during the run while Seltzer, Tyler Sankes and Montague all added a bucket.
Washington closed the lead to eight at the half, sending Rochester to the locker room with a 39-31 edge.
The Bears were able to rattle off an 18-5 run over the first 6:30 of the second half to grab a 49-44 lead with 13:30 left on the clock. Rochester aided the burst with five big turnovers and only making two of seven shots in that span. Big man Chris Klimek powered Wash U in the run, scoring eight of his game high 20 points on the night. He finished with a double-double after adding 10 rebounds.
Down five with just under 11 minutes to play, Rochester used two huge 3-pointers from Seltzer and a remarkable fade away shot clock beating jumper from Dylan Peretz to rattle off an 8-0 run over the next two minutes. That put the UR lead back to three at 60-57 with 8:54 left on the clock.
A Kyle Reardon three followed by another Seltzer trey on the next possession pushed UR's margin to seven with just under four to play, but that would be UR's last field goal of the contest as the Bear defense buckled down. Washington only surrendered two shot attempts the rest of the game while closing on a 12-2 run to earn the 3-point win. A Montague 3-point attempt from the corner with two seconds to play rattled out for the 'Jackets.
For the game, UR shot 51% (26-51) from the floor and was 58% (15-26) from long range. That compares to the Bears who just were 42% (30-71) shooting and only made 6-20 threes (30%). Wash U held a big advantage on the glass (39-29) while grabbing 18 offensive boards to UR's three. That led to a key 19 second chance points. Rochester's bench was a bright spot, contributing 29 points and outscoring the Bears reserves by 25.
Washington's five started all scored in double figures with Matt Palucki scoring 16 points behind Klimek's 20. Alan Aboona added 14 points and eight assists while Nick Burt chipped in 13 points and seven boards. Tim Cooney scored 11.
Rochester next game is Sunday at 12 pm against the University of Chicago.