ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Tucker Knox scored a career-high 18 points on 7-9 marksmanship from the floor as the University of Rochester defeated SUNY Canton, 84-51, in the semifinals of the Holiday Inn Rochester Downtown Tournament at the Louis Alexander Palestra on Saturday evening.
In Sunday's championship game, Rochester will play Stockton University (NJ). SUNY Canton will take on Keuka for third place. Stockton defeated Keuka, 77-50. Zavon Johnson led Stockton (4-1) with 22 points and three steals. Onnir Kendall had 15 points, six assists and six steals. Keuka's leading scorer was Trevor Powell with 15 points. He also had eight rebounds Cliff Stevens scored seven points, collected eight rebounds, three blocked shots, and three steals. Keuka is 2-2.
Knox made all four of his three-point attempts, added eight rebounds, one assist, and one blocked shot in 20 minutes. Ryan Clamage added 15 points, three assists, and four steals for the Yellowjackets (3-1). Andrew Lundstrom scored 13 points, hitting 6-7 from the field. Thirteen players scored for Rochester.
Adrian Williams led SUNY Canton with 19 points. He hit 8-17 from the field, 3-6 outside the arc. Jordan Stewart scored 11 points and made 5-9 from the floor. Danny Santana had eight points, four assists, and two steals for the Roos (0-4). Joseph Werner had nine rebounds and Andrew Fitch had six.
Both teams thrived on turnover scoring. Keuka committed 20 turnovers leading to 22 Rochester points. Clamage and Jacob Wittig each had four steals for UR. Rochester turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 20 Canton points.
The Yellowjackets grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and produced 19 second-chance points. Canton had nine second-chance points on seven offensive boards.
Rochester broke the game open early, using a 26-4 run over 10 minutes to build a 26-7 lead with 8:32 left in the half.. Six players scored in the run. Clamage led the way with eight points.
The lead was 25 (37-12) when Williams hit a runner in the lane, then followed with a trey from the top of the key to ignite a 9-0 spurt. Rochester led, 38-22, at the half.