The University of Rochester men's basketball team captured the tournament title at the 2018 Chuck Resler Invitational on Saturday afternoon at the Louis Alexander Palestra, defeating Baldwin Wallace University 64-55.
 
Rochester moves to 3-0 on the season while Baldwin Wallace drops to 2-0.  In the consolation round of the tournament, Cabrini University defeated Houghton College 90-73.
 
The tournament MVP was UR senior Jacob Wittig who had a team-high 14 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds.  He scored 18 points in the semifinals against Houghton on Friday night.  Rochester's other All-Tournament selection was senior Michael Mangan who finished with 10 points and five rebounds in the championship game.
 
Baldwin Wallace was led by Jay Battle who poured in 21 points, including six three pointers.  Teammate Drew Sova added 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals.  Both were selected to the All-Tournament team, joining Cabrini's Anthony Wright-Downing and Houghton's Dylan Lambert from the consolation matchup.

Midway through the first half, Rochester was able to build its largest lead of the game following an 11-0 run which broke a 10-10 tie.  Baldwin Wallace went 0-9 from the floor in the stretch while UR was 5-10 shooting.  Wittig had five points while Patrick Benka, Ryan Algier and Alexander Gamble all chipped in buckets in the run.
 
BW responded right away to pull back within two, thanks to a 14-5 spurt, sparked by four three pointers.  Two were by Battle and one each from Zach Cebula and Michael Quiring.
 
At the break, Rochester led 28-27.
 
Baldwin Wallace started the second half with six straight points, building its largest lead of the game at 33-28, but UR rattled off the next three baskets, two by Andrew Lundstrom and one by Mangan to regain the lead.
 
The two teams played tight the rest of the way, keeping the margin within six points until the home Yellowjackets scored eight of the last 11 points of the game over the final 71 seconds.  A Lundstrom layup made the lead 58-52 and then Mangan connected on a pair of free throws before Ryan Clamage closed its out with four straight from the charity stripe.
 
Clamage scored 11 points while Lundstrom had eight and seven rebounds.  Gamble finished with 10 off the bench for UR while Benka scored eight.
 
Rochester as a team shot 49% from the floor (26-53), compared to BW's 38% (23-61).  On the glass, UR held the advantage 36-31.
 
The Yellowjackets are back in action on Tuesday against Hobart College in an 8 pm matchup in the Palestra.