Rochester finished 2-0 at the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout for the fourth consecutive year when the Yellowjackets defeated Nazareth College, 77-58, at the Louis Alexander Palestra on Saturday evening.
The Yellowjackets opened the tournament with a 78-75 victory over St. John Fisher. The tournament works on pre-determined matchups. On Friday, Nazareth defeated RIT, 70-65. In Saturday's first game. St. John Fisher pulled away late to defeat RIT, 80-70.
Ryan Algier was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He had a career high 33 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and handed out five assists against Nazareth. In two games, he finished with 54 points and 22 rebounds. The 33 points is a career high and it came one night after he scored a then-career high of 21 points against Fisher.
He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Kailan Lee. He finished with 15 points, two boards, and four assists. Lee had a career high 25 points on Friday with a near-perfect shooting performance (9-9 FG, 4-4 3-Pointer, 3-4 at the line).
The other members of the All-Tournament Team were James Leone of St. John Fisher, Matt Anderson of RIT, Stephen Gabel and Cody Green of Nazareth.
This game had a series of dramatic swings. UR led, 10-8, early before Nazareth used a 16-4 run to bolt ahead, 24-14, with five and a half minutes left in the first period. Five players contributed. Isaac Nelson and Jordan Haggard hit treys. When Josh Stenglein hit a 12 footer just outside the lane, Naz led, 24-14. UR pushed with a 13-4 run to trim the Naz lead to 28-27 at halftime. Patrick Benka and Lee sank treys in the burst.
Algier scored 10 of Rochester's first 14 points in the second half – a couple of tip-ins, a dunk, and a layup. The Yellowjackets edged in front, 41-38. Green's fourth trey of the game drew Nazareth within 43-41 with more than 12 minutes left. Algier scored seven straight points – he backed in for a layup, then followed that with a conventional layup. He ended the burst with a three-pointer from the left of the key. It gave Rochester a 50-44 lead.
Nazareth cut it down to 52-50 (a trey by Logan Blankenberg, two free throws each from Nelson and Gabel) with eight to go.
Lee was 4-4 from the line and Benka sank two for a 58-50 lead. Gabel's two foul shots made it 58-54 UR before the Yellowjackets ran off 10 straight (four from Algier, three from Lee, and Benka's second three-pointer of the night (he finished with three).