WALTHAM, MA – 'Balance' can best be described as the even-handed production of the University of Rochester men's basketball team in a 75-66 victory at Brandeis University on Friday night at the Gosman Center in Auerbach Arena.
Eight of Rochester's nine players scored six or more points. Five sank three-point goals. Guards Jacob Wittig and Michael Mangan combined for 13 assists. Wittig had seven rebounds (to accompany his seven assists) and Jacob Urban grabbed 10 rebounds for the second straight game.
Add it all together and the Yellowjackets are 12-3 overall, 3-1 in the University Athletic Association race. UR remains tied with the University of Chicago, one game behind Emory and Washington (MO). The Yellowjackets are ranked No. 25 in the current D3hoops.com poll. Brandeis slipped to 4-11 overall, 0-4 in the UAA.
Ryan Clamage led Rochester with 19 points, hitting 6 of 9 from the floor. He had three of UR's nine 3-pointers. Tucker Knox had 11 points, including a 3-pointer. Mangan scored nine points. Andrew Lundstrom had nine as well and that included one bucket from 3-point range. Patrick Benka scored seven points and Brendan O'Sheasupplied six. They each hit two 3-pointers.
Collin Sawyer led Brandeis with 14 points. He hit four 3-pointers. Lawrence Sabir had 12 points and seven assists. Chandler Jones scored 10 points. Eric D'Aguanno had nine points, all from outside the arc. Latye Workman scored eight and grabbed a team high six rebounds. Corey Sherman had six points, courtesy of a pair of 3-point goals.
Rochester had a 41-28 advantage on the glass. The Yellowjackets turned the ball over 13 times, leading to 17 Brandeis points. UR looked for – and found – the good shot all night long, recording 21 assists on 26 baskets. Rochester made 26 of 54 from the field (.481), 9 of 22 outside the arc (.409), and 14 of 19 at the stripe (.737).
Brandeis countered with .500 shooting outside the arc (10-20). The Judges hit .417 from the field overall (25-60) and made only six of 14 free throw attempts (.429).
Rochester got ahead at the start and stayed there. The lead was as much as eight, 20-12, after Knox planted a trey from the right corner. Brandeis kept chipping away, led by two 3-points from D'Aguanno. When Workman drove for a layup, it cut the UR lead to 36-33 with 2:37 left in the half.
The game took a quirky turn. Urban made a layup (38-33) and almost immediately, an intentional foul (with a technical tacked on) put Clamage at the line for two shots. He made those as part of an 8-4 sprint to close the first half (46-37 UR).
In the second half, 3-pointers from Jones and Sawyer kept Brandeis within hailing distance, 56-47, five minutes into the period. Brandeis hit a cold stretch for more than six minutes and UR expanded its lead to 67-50 over the next four minutes.
O'Shea's second 3-point goal, this one from left wing, put Rochester up, 72-56, with 6:10 left. The visitors turned cold and eight quick points, six from Sabir narrowed it to 72-64 with the clock just below three minutes.
Clamage made a pair from the line and that pretty much wrapped it up.