Backed by a career-night from tournament MVP Brian Amabilino Perez, the University of Rochester men's basketball team earned the tournament title at the 2021 UR Chuck Resler Invitational following an 80-66 win over Southern Virginia University on Saturday night at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
Amabilino Perez poured in a career-high 24 points and added a career-high tying nine rebounds in Rochester's victory, the 24th in the 38-year history of the annual UR tip-off event.
The win pushes UR to 3-0 to start the season, while Southern Virigina drops to 2-1. In the consolation game earlier in the day, SUNY Cortland defeated Houghton 92-64 to claim third place.
Joining Amabilino Perez on the All-Tournament team was teammate Ross Gang, Southern Viriginia's Conner Marchant and Jesse Barker along with Houghton's Jordan Holmes and Cortland's Austin Grunder.
Rochester got off to a quick start to the championship game, going up 11-3 after hitting three 3-pointers, two from T.C. Price and one from Amabilino Perez, along with two Amabilino Perez free throws.
Over the next six and a half minutes, the visiting Knights used a 17-4 run to grab their biggest lead of the contest, going up by five at 20-15 just past the midway point of the half. Back-to-back three's from Kade Harrick and Conner Marchant ended the run.
UR's Price and Amabilino Perez regained the lead for Rochester, combining to score the next seven points and the Yellowjackets were up 22-20.
The score was tight the rest of the half, with the teams trading buckets and eventually entered the intermission tied at 36-all.
With Rochester clinging to a one point lead five minutes into the second half, the Yellowjackets embarked on a 13-3 run to grab the first double-digit lead of the game. Dan Masino started the run with a driving layup, while Andrew Jackson added six points in the spurt. Mitchell Kershner sank a 3-pointer with 10:21 left to put UR up 61-50.
Southern Virigina scored the next four points to cut the lead to seven, but then was held without a point for the next seven minutes as UR blew the game open with a 15-0 run to go ahead 76-54 with under three minutes to play.
Five different players scored in the late game run, led by Amabilino Perez's five and Gang's four. Others scoring in the rush were Trent Noordsij, Kershner and Kekoapookela McArdle.
For the game, Amabilino Perez was the lone Yellowjacket in double-figures. Price finished with nine points and three rebounds, while Gang added 8 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds. Jackson and Kershner had nine and eight points off the bench respectively, while Masino chipped in seven points and five assists.
Marchant led the Knights with 20 points, also adding five assists and four 3-pointers. Barker scored 17 points, had 5 boards, 6 steals and 3 blocks. Four other players for SVU had six points.
UR's next two games take place in another tournament, the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout, next Thursday and Saturday. This year's men's event takes place at Nazareth College, with UR taking on the host Golden Flyers on November 18th at 8 pm. The Yellowjackets play against St. John Fisher two days later at 6 pm.