From University of Rochester Athletics

A balanced effort from the University of Rochester men's basketball team led to a 71-62 victory over Alfred University on Friday evening in the opening round of the UR Chuck Resler Invitational.

The victory for UR (2-0) is the 100th in the career at Rochester for head coach Luke Flockerzi, his 130th overall as a head coach. He is the fourth head coach for the Yellowjackets to reach that milestone, joining Mike Neer, Lou Alexander and Lyle Brown. The loss drops Alfred to 0-2 to open the season.

Overall, Rochester saw 10 different players score in the contest, with none of them eclipsing 10 points. The sophomore class was well represented as Jacob Wittig and Ryan Clamage led the team with 10 points each while classmates Andrew Lundstrom (8 points) and Brendan O'Shea (6 points) also made significant contributions.

The Yellowjackets kicked off the second half on a 15-3 run which blew open a tight game which saw Rochester head into halftime with a five point lead at 33-28. Two key three pointers in the first 75 seconds of the half, one by Mack Montague and the other by Tucker Knox, ignited the Palestra crowd and boosted UR's lead to double digits.

Alfred would go on an 11-0 spurt of its own over two and half minutes late in the second to pull within 10, and got as close as nine with 3:43 remaining, but Rochester was able to hold the Saxons at bay the rest of the way to earn the win. 

Continuing with the even scoring, Zack Ayers added nine points and five rebounds for the Yellowjackets, including a couple thunderous dunks in the second half.  Sam Borst-Smith finished with seven points, seven boards and three steals while Montague added six points and seven boards. Knox had seven points and three blocked shots.