The University of Rochester men's basketball team wrapped up its non-conference portion of its schedule on Tuesday night with an 88-79 victory over crosstown rival RIT at the Louis Alexander Palestra.

Rochester (10-1), ranked #5 in the latest D3hoops.com poll saw the visiting Tigers (5-4) rally from 16 points down in the second half, trimming the lead to just four with under 90 seconds to play, but four points down the stretch from Mitchell Kershner and a Ross Gang free throw sealed the nine point win.

Gang finished as UR's leading scorer with 19 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the field, adding eight rebounds and five assists.

Three other Yellowjackets finished with double-figure scoring, including Kershner and Matt Wiele who had 12 each. Logan Jagodzinski had 10 off the bench. Wiele added 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals with Kershner ending with 6 boards and 3 assists.

T.C. Price didn't miss a shot, going 3-for-3 from the field and ended with eight points as Rochester pushed its win streak five, matching its season-long.

RIT's Kevin Ryan finished one rebound shy of a double-double, leading the Tigers with 22 points, adding nine rebounds. Chase Dickens scored 10 points off the bench for the Tigers, with Andrew Fox adding nine points.

In the opening half, Rochester got off to a sluggish start, trailing 12-6 after six minutes.

C.J. Amsellem hit 3-pointer gave the Yellowjackets a jolt offensively, cutting the lead to three. He later added a layup and ignited an 11-0 Rochester run which pushed Rochester in front 24-18. Five of Price's points came in the run as well as buckets from Jagodzinski and Amir Basma.

The UR lead remained between four and eight points the rest of the half, with Rochester heading to intermission up eight, leading 48-40.

In the second half, Rochester outscored the Tigers 13-5 over the first five minutes to boost its lead to a game-high 16 points. Gang and Kershner paced the quick second half start for the Yellowjackets with five points each.

Trailing by 14 with under ten minutes to play, Kenny Wilburn sank two free throws for RIT to start a 9-2 spurt, trimming the lead to seven. The run was capped by one of RIT's four 3-pointers on the night, made by Ronnie Toole.

UR scored six straight to boost the lead back to 13, but Toole's second three of the night started a key 12-3 stretch for RIT, getting the lead down to four. Matt Caggiano made a put back layup with 1:26 left to made the score 83-79 in favor of the Yellowjackets.

With the momentum in the Tigers favor, Rochester needed a good possession and got one. Wiele found Kershner with a pass through traffic for a layup, answering the RIT bucket, extending the lead back out to six.

On RIT's next time down the floor, Wilburn was blocked by Amsellem and missed a second chance opportunity before Dan Masino grabbed one of his seven boards on the night to give UR possession.

Gang was then fouled and made 1-of-2 free throws and the game was out of reach after Kershner sank two straight from the charity stripe with 15 seconds left.

Rochester finished the night shooting 52% (34-66) from the field, compared to RIT's 41% (26-63). Neither team could find rhythm from long range, as the schools combined to make just 9-of-39 3-pointers, a clip of 23%.

UR held the lead on the glass 38-36, with the Yellowjackets combining to outscore the Tigers 20-4 on fast break points.

The Yellowjackets now turn their focus to University Athletic Association play on Saturday, playing at 22nd-ranked Emory University.