CHICAGO – The University of Rochester men's basketball team nearly pulled off an improbable late game comeback, but ultimately dropped a 66-62 road decision to the University of Chicago on Friday evening at the Ratner Athletics Center.

The loss drops the Yellowjackets to 13-7 overall this season and 5-5 in UAA conference play. Chicago improves to 8-12 overall and is now 3-6 in the UAA.

Rochester trailed by nine points with just 1:13 left in regulation but just 50 seconds later, Rochester had cut the lead to three and had the ball after Dan Masino forced a Chicago turnover on an inbounds play.

In the mini spurt, Andrew Jackson scored five points, including a clutch 3-pointer with 26 seconds left, while Ross Gang also drained an open 3-pointer from the right wing after a Yellowjackets steal.

An unlucky bounce off the rim rattled out on the tying 3-point attempt from Trent Noordsij and Chicago secured the rebound scored a fast break layup to secure the victory.

Gang ended up as Rochester's leading scorer, pouring in 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including going 2-for-2 from 3-point range. Masino did a little bit of everything for Rochester, recording 10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

Brian Amabilino Perez chipped in 9 points and eight rebounds while Noordsij finished with seven points. In his first career start, Matt Wiele scored 6 points, had 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Chicago was led by Brandon Beckman who had 17 points and 7 rebounds, including multiple clutch 3-pointers in the second half. Zach Munson recorded a double-double for the Maroons with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Throughout the first half, neither team could gain separation from the other, as Chicago held the games largest lead of five in the opening 20 minutes. UR's best scoring runs in the first half were two separate 6-0 runs, both in the first eight minutes of play.

At intermission, Chicago led 33-30 following a layup by Ryan Martin in the final minute.

In the second half, Rochester edged in front 41-39 with 12:36 left after a Wiele fastbreak layup. After a Chicago free throw cut the lead to one, Masino stretched UR's margin to five after back-to-back layups with under nine minutes left.

Chicago snapped a five-minute field goal drought with a Beckman 3-pointer to stop UR's 7-1 run, and turned it into a Maroon 7-0 stretch of its own. UC was up 47-45 with 7:09 on the clock.

Rochester's Kekoapookela McArdle scored a layup with 5:23 left, but that was UR's last basket until Jackson's layup started the UR rally with just over a minute left, allowing Chicago to earn its game-high 9-point cushion.

The Yellowjackets next head to #8 Washington-St. Louis on Sunday for a key road UAA matchup at noon central time.