The University of Rochester men's basketball team closed out non-conference play with an 81-67 win over RIT at the Louis Alexander Palestra on Tuesday.
Rochester (7-4), used a strong shooting 1st half performance and got some help with some poor Tiger free throw shooting to earn the victory, snapping a modest two game skid. UR shot 47% in the opening 20 minutes, 44% overall in the contest while visiting RIT combined to shoot just 44% (10-23) from the charity stripe in the game.
The 'Jackets were led by four starters in double figures, including Mack Montague who scored a season high 20 points. Sam Borst-Smith had 15 points, a career high 9 assists while also grabbing 4 rebounds and 4 steals. Jared Seltzer had his third double-double in the last four games with 13 points and a career high 17 rebounds. Dylan Peretz, making his first start of the 2015-16 season, added 14 points and nine boards.
RIT was paced by Kamron Davis who led all scorers with 21 points, also pulling down 10 rebounds. AJ Horde had a nice all-around game with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists while Mitch Herman and Sheldon Clay each chipped in 12 points for the Tigers (4-5).
It was a hot start for Rochester shooting, as the Yellowjackets made nine of their first 15 attempts to jump out to a 21-10 lead over the first nine minutes. An 8-2 spurt was capped by a Brendan O'Shea 3-pointer to give UR its first double-digit lead of the contest.
Three treys, one by Borst-Smith and two by Montague then powered an 11-2 run which allowed UR to double up the Tigers 32-16 with 5:21 to play in the first half. At the break, Rochester would hold a 15 point lead, up 41-26.
In the second half, the Tiger's got as close as nine down on multiple occasions, but left too many points at the free throw line. A Davis free throw along with two three's by Herman and Clay sparked a 7-0 burst which saw RIT close within 59-50 with over eight minutes left in the contest.
But Rochester then answered with two layups inside from Seltzer and Peretz, then made 4-of-4 free throws with Montague and Borst Smith to quickly rebuild a 14-point margin.
The win over the Tigers was UR's second this season as the two teams met in the semifinals of the Wendy's Classic on December 5th. In that contest, UR emerged with an 80-64 win. Overall, the Yellowjackets have now won six straight against the Tigers.
It is now on to UAA play for the remainder of the season as Rochester kicks off the conference slate traveling to Emory University this Saturday. Tip-time against the Eagles is scheduled for 12 pm.