ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The University of Rochester never trailed in posting 54-45 men's college basketball victory over Montclair State University on Sunday afternoon in the Louis Alexander Palestra.
This was the championship game of the UR/Holiday Inn Rochester Downtown Thanksgiving Invitational. Rochester won its 24th title in the 34-year history of the event. Montclair made its first appearance in the tournament.
Rochester senior Ryan Clamage was named the Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive year. He finished with 18 points, four rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals, and one assist in 33 minutes. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Alexander Gamble of Rochester, Myles Mitchell-White and Akbar Hoffman of Montclair State, Juatin Porrett of Elmira College, and Tom Horvat of Rensselaer. RPI defeated Elmira, 84-76, in the third place game.
Rochester improved to 6-0 overall. Montclair is 5-1. Both the Yellowjackets and Redhawks are among Others Receiving Votes in the pre-season poll of D3hoops.com.
Clamage was the only Rochester player to score in double figures. Michael Mangan had seven points. Gamble and Andrew Lundstrom had six. Rochester shot 33.3% from the floor in each half (finished 16-48). Neither team had much success outside the arc: Rochester was 3-23 (13.0%) and Montclair was 2-18 (11.1%).
Hoffman led all scorers with 21 points. He had 52 points in the two games. Mitchell-White scored nine points vs. Rochester. Eddie Emedoh had seven points and seven rebounds.
Late in the first half, Rochester went on an 8-2 flurry with six of the eight points coming at the foul line. Clamage made the only basket – a backdoor layup from Jeff Wittig's lob and added a free throw after drawing a foul. Jordan Roberson scored on a backdoor layup for Montclair with 90 seconds left in the half and it was 27-20 Rochester at halftime.
Clamage and Mangan scored four points apiece in an 8-3 run to start the second half. It pushed Rochester's lead to 12 points (35-23) with more than 14 minutes left to play.
Montclair battled back. Hoffman scored seven points in less than three minutes to pull the Redhawks within 39-34. It was still a five-point game when Benka sank a three-pointer from the right of the key with seven minutes left. That stretched the advantage to eight, 44-36. A jumper in the key by Lundstrom and two free throws kept UR ahead by 10, 50-40, with four minutes on the clock.
Hoffman drove for a layup with 3:42 left, but it was the last field goal for either team. Montclair couldn't connect from the foul line, making just three of seven with one of those misfires the front end of a one-and-one.
Gamble helped insure the win by hitting 4-4 from the line in the last 30 seconds.