It was a balanced effort that carried the University of Rochester men's basketball team to a 77-56 victory over Misericordia University on Friday evening in the opening round of the UR Chuck Resler Invitational at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
All five starters scored in double-figures for Rochester (2-0), with the Yellowjackets now getting set to take on Heidelberg University in the tournament's championship game tomorrow night at 8 pm. With the loss, Misericordia falls to 0-2.
Ross Gang led UR in scoring with 15 points, also stuffing the stat sheet with 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Kailan Lee scored 13 points while Patrick Benka had 12, with both players sinking three 3-pointers. Ryan Algier had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals while Trent Noordsij ended with 11 points.
Misericordia was led by Noah Rivera and Tony Hardin who each scored 13 points. Rivera added six rebounds. Nate Kreitzer and Kyle Skivington each chipped in eight points for the Cougars.
The Yellowjackets grabbed a hold of the game in the early going, exploding out to a 20-8 lead following a 16-3 run over 4:43 in the opening eight minutes of the game. Algier bookended the run with a layup and two free throws, while Gang sank two jumpers.
Misericordia responded with a 14-6 run to pull back within four at 26-22 with 6:33 left in the half. All eight of Skivington's points came in the run, with Sean Gorman also sinking two layups.
At halftime, Rochester had a seven point lead, sitting up 35-28.
In the second half, UR came out shooting lights out, making seven of its first nine attempts from the floor, en route to a 16-5 run which seemingly put the game away. Gang scored seven points, including the last two in the run, putting Rochester up 51-33 with just under 16 minutes left.
Rochester's lead got as big as 29 points following a jumper from Brian Amabilino Perez with 5:52 remaining.
Overall on the night, UR shot 52% from the floor (32-62) and was 9-29 (31%) from distance. The Cougars meanwhile, ended up making 38% of their shots overall (19-50) and were 6-22 (27%) from long range). Rochester held a big advantage on the glass (40-28) and in assists (17-8).