University of Rochester men's basketball held York College of Pennsylvania scoreless over the final 5:19, outscoring the Spartans 11-0 down to the stretch to earn a 73-66 victory on Tuesday evening inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
Jayden Rowe's triple, one of five second-half makes for the Spartans, gave York a 62-60 lead with 7:16 to play in the second half. After trailing 38-31 at the halftime break, York outscored UR, 31-22 over the first 12 minutes of the second period, and led by as many as four following Kai Cipalla's hook shot just under a minute after retaking the lead on Rowe's three.
 
Matt Wiele answered with a drive to the hoop to cut York's lead back to one possession, but Jackson Mercari would bring the Spartans' lead back out to four, 66-62, with just over five minutes remaining with his driving layup on the ensuing possession.
 
Down by four, the 'Jackets would put the clamps on York's offense, holding the Spartans to 0-for-8 from the field and 0-for-4 from three the rest of the way. Jagodzinski's layup at the 4:24 mark made it a two-point game, and although the junior missed the free throw to cut it to one, after Rowe missed a layup, C.J. Amsellem grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds and finished his miss to level the score at 66 with 3:45 left to play.
 
And then after another miss by the Spartans, Jagodzinski gave Rochester the lead for the first time since the 15:23 mark of the second half. Jagodzinski went 1-for-2 at the line to give the Yellowjackets a 67-66 lead, and after another two misses from the Spartans, Wiele made another tough bucket on a drive, extending the lead to 69-66 with 1:24 left.
 
Out of a timeout, Rowe missed another bucket, and Mitchell Kershner and Matt Niemczura put the game on ice, knocking down all four free throws while the Spartans missed a pair of threes down the stretch to finish off the victory.
 
Rowe would break the seal and get the scoring started in the first half for the Spartans, before Jagodzinski's jumper evened the score at two-all just over three minutes into the contest.
 
The first five minutes saw a pair of ties, before a 10-2 Rochester run, started by Niemczura's three at the 14:58 mark and capped off by Corvin Oprea's triple with 12:42 left in the first, gave the Yellowjackets an eight-point advantage.
 
York would quickly make their way back though, answering with a pair of Tate Landis' three-pointers to jumpstart an 11-2 Spartans' run, as York took a 17-16 lead just shy of the 10-minute mark in the first.
 
Back-to-back buckets by Jagodzinski and Amsellem though, put Rochester back out in front, before eight straight from UR gave the Yellowjackets their largest lead of the night, 30-20, following a pair of free throws by Malachi Moore with 4:59 till the halftime break.
 
York twice pulled within five down the stretch of the first half, as Chris Miers drained a three off Jackson Mascari's assist with 27 seconds left, but Amsellem added another layup, one of 10 first-half points for the graduate student, before the halftime buzzer to send Rochester into the break up 38-31.
 
The Yellowjackets shot 45.5 percent in the first half while holding York to just 32.4 percent shooting and outrebounding the Spartans, 28-17.
 
But the Spartans would get their offense going in a hurry to start the second half, opening the second period on a 10-3 run to quickly tie the score at 41 less than four minutes in.
 
The two sides would then go back and forth over the next minute, with Amsellem and Cipalla trading buckets to again tie the score at 43-all, before a Niemczura steal and slam gave Rochester a one-point lead.
 
Mascari drained a triple on the Spartans' ensuing possession to put York up one, but Jagodzinski answered on the other end and drew the foul, knocking down the free throw to complete the four-point play and make it a 49-46 Rochester lead.
 
York reeled off a quick 9-2 run, highlighted by a pair of threes from Landis and Miers, to take their largest lead of the night, 55-51 with 12:16 to play, but Kershner and Jagodzinski combined to score the next four, again leveling the score at 55-all.
 
The contest saw nine lead changes and eight ties, including two more in the second half after layups by Cipalla and Tomia Adetosoye again evened the score at 57.
 
Amsellem knocked down a triple from the top of the key to set himself a new career-high, but the Spartans would answer with a 7-2 run to take a 66-62 lead on Mascari's driving layup with 5:19 remaining.
 
That'd be the last bucket York (4-3) would score the rest of the way though, as the 'Jackets (5-4) ended the second half on an 11-0, clamping down on defense to earn the 77-63 victory.
 
Amsellem led Rochester with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds for his first-career double-double, while Jagodzinski added 19 points, six rebounds and three steals.
 
Moore tied Amsellem with a game-high 10 rebounds, while a trio of 'Jackets: Adetosoye, Amsellem and Wiele, each notched two assists. As a team, UR tallied eight steals and seven blocks but turned it over 21 times, a season-high.
 
The 'Jackets shot 40.0 percent in the second half and 42.9 percent overall, while the Spartans shot 43.8 percent in the second half, and 37.9 percent for the game.
 
Rochester also outrebounded York, 52-30, including 17-6 on the offensive glass, and outscored the Spartans in the paint, 42-26, 17-8 on the break and 15-5 on second-chance opportunities.
 
Following the holiday break, Rochester will be back in action when they visit crosstown rival RIT on Sunday, Dec. 31 at 1:00 p.m. in Henrietta, NY.