A stout defensive effort from visiting Washington University in St. Louis held the 11th-ranked University of Rochester men's basketball team to a season low point total in a 63-47 home loss in a UAA matchup on Friday evening in the Louis Alexander Palestra.
The Yellowjackets (13-4, 3-3 UAA) were held under 50 points for the first time in three seasons, were held to just 35% (18-51) shooting and sank just two 3-pointers in the home loss, its first of the year in the Palestra.
WashU (13-4, 4-2 UAA) meanwhile, picks up a big road win and moves into second place in the conference standings, as the teams approach the midway point of the UAA schedule.
Rochester's leading scorer was senior Ross Gang who had 13 points to go along with 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Junior Matt Wiele was the only other Yellowjacket in double figure scoring with 12 points, also adding seven rebounds. Graduate student Ryan Algier returned to the starting lineup and finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks.
The Bears' Hayden Doyle led all scorers with 18 points, hit three 3-pointers and added seven rebounds. Drake Kindsvater scored 15 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds while missing just one shot from the field, going 6-for-7. Yogi Oliff added 10 points and four assists.
Both teams started out slow, with the score sitting at 4-4 after five minutes of play in the opening half. Will Grudzinski scored a layup to give the Bears the lead, but it was quickly answered by a jumper from Logan Jagodzinski.
After Dan Masino drained a 3-pointer to pull Rochester ahead 9-8, the Yellowjackets went cold, missing their next seven shots from the field and committing six turnovers over a nine-minute span. That spell allowed the Bears to go on a 14-4 run and take a 22-13 lead with under four minutes to play in the half.
Rochester scored eight of the last ten points to close the period, including a buzzer-beating layup from Algier, to head into the locker room trailing just by three, with WashU leading 24-21.
To open the second half, the Yellowjackets got a bucket from Gang on the opening possession to cut the lead to one, but the Bears answered with a 7-0 run to regain an eight-point advantage. Doyle and Oliff recorded layups sandwiched around a Kindsvater 3-pointer in the spurt.
UR's Wiele made a driving layup to stop the run for WashU, but the Bears answered with a big 3-pointer from Doyle to silence the Palestra crowd.
A few minutes later, with Rochester trailing by eight, Kindsvater hit two jumpers, including a 3-pointer to ignite a 9-2 Bears run which boosted the lead 15 points at 51-36.
Wiele hit a triple and added a layup to get UR back within ten with just over six minutes on the clock, but that was as close as Rochester would get the rest of the way.
UR remains home for its next game, hosting the University of Chicago on Sunday at noon.