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Yellowjackets Top Johnson State in Holiday Inn Airport Tournament

Yellowjackets Top Johnson State in Holiday Inn Airport Tournament

From University of Rochester Athletics

Jared Seltzer scored 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and handed out four assists to push Rochester into the championship game of the UR/Holiday Inn Airport Thanksgiving Invitational at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
Rochester (4-1 overall) will play Oswego State (5-0) in Sunday's championship game at 3 pm Sunday. Oswego is coached by Jason Leone, a 1999 graduate of Rochester. Leone was the tournament MVP when Rochester won this tournament in the 1998-99 season.
 
Middlebury (1-3) will play Johnson State (0-4) for third place at 1 pm Sunday. The same two teams will meet at Johnson State College on Tuesday in a regularly-scheduled game.
 
Brendan O'Shea added 13 points off the bench in 21 minutes for Rochester. He hit three three-pointers. Zack Ayers had 10 points, six rebounds, and two blocked shots for Rochester.
 
Derek Ashley led Johnson State with 16 points, including four treys. Benjamin Holl also hit four three-pointers for the Badgers enroute to 14 points. Rahim Bunch had 12 points and six assists.
 
Rochester ended the first half on a 15-5 run which turned a 26-22 deficit into a 37-31 lead. The Badgers, behind back to back treys by Ashley, went ahead 41-38 just over three minutes into the second half.  Seltzer scored 10 straight points in less than two minutes – including consecutive three-pointers from opposite corners. That capped a 12-0 run that gave Rochester a 54-43 lead midway through the second half.
 
Down by 12, 68-56 with 4:38 to go, Johnson State rode a pair of treys from Holl sandwiched around one from Ashley to pull within 68-65 with 1:39 left. Rochester held on by making seven of its last eight free throw attempts: O'Shea was 4-4, Michael Mangan 2-2, and Sam Borst-Smith 1-2.