From University of Rochester Athletics
Strong bench play helped power a big comeback by the University of Rochester as the Yellowjackets topped Case Western Reserve 69-66 in men's basketball action on Friday night in the Palestra.
Rochester (7-6, 1-1 UAA) was paced by sophomore Jared Seltzer's career high 14 points along with a solid night from classmate Dylan Peretz who chipped in eight points and eight rebounds. Freshman Sam Borst-Smith stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals off the bench while senior Nate Vernon added 14 points. Vernon now sits at 995 points for his career.
UR's bench combined to score 35 points to Case's four from its reserve players on the night.
Case (9-4, 1-1 UAA) was led by senior center David Thompson who had 16 points (7-13 FG) and five rebounds while Dane McLoughlin had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Tim Chung hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points while Julien Person ended with 14 points and five rebounds.
The visiting Spartans were able to build a lead as big as 14 points late in the first half at 40-26, but UR was able to chip away before the break, sending the teams to the locker room with Case ahead by seven, leading 42-35.
After exchanging baskets for much of the first 10 minutes of the second half, Rochester trailed by nine with 11:29 remaining on the clock before a 9-2 rally pulled the home 'Jackets within two with eight minutes left in the game.
A big three from Person silenced the raucous Palestra crowd only for a moment as Rochester then scored the next six points to take a 65-54 lead with 3:45 left on the clock. A Peretz tip in gave UR its first lead since being ahead 6-5 just three minutes into the contest. Overall, Case Western Reserve led for over 35 minutes of the contest.
A David Thompson layup with 2:13 to play allowed the Spartans to regain the lead, but UR's Seltzer and Borst-Smith swished four free-throws in the last minute to go ahead for good.
After UR missed the front end of a 1-1 opportunity, Case trailed by three with just 2.7 seconds on the clock. Then after a series of timeouts by both teams, the 6-foot-8 Peretz then capped off his solid night and stole the Case inbounds pass securing the victory.
The two teams ended up nearly shooting identical percentages from the floor with Case (28-64, 43.8%) holding a slim edge over Rochester who shot 26-60 (43.3%) on the night. UR won the rebounding battle by eight, pulling down 40 boards to Case's 32. The Yellowjackets combined to take 15 free throws while Case was held to just two chances from the charity stripe.