From University of Rochester Athletics
Junior Tucker Knox sank two free throws with no time remaining on the clock to lift the University of Rochester men's basketball team to a 73-72 win over RIT on Tuesday evening at Clark Gymnasium.
Knox was fouled as the second half buzzer sounded and the Yellowjackets trailed by one point following a 1-for-2 trip at the line by RIT's A.J. Horde with 14.9 seconds on the clock. The following possession by the Yellowjackets saw the Tigers swat away two shot attempts before UR got the team rebound to maintain possession, setting up the RIT foul on Knox as the buzzer sounded.
The win by #4 ranked Rochester (11-0) completed a big second half comeback after trailing by as many as 10 points in the second half to the Tigers (6-5).
RIT was able to build its double digit lead with a strong start to the second half. After the Yellowjackets got a basket from Jacob Wittig to start the final 20 minutes and take a one point lead, RIT rattled off 11 straight points to go up by double digits. That run was highlighted by two 3-pointers by Mitch Herman and Troy Pierre-Louis on back-to-back possessions.
Knox stopped the run with a trey of his own and a Mack Montague free throw pulled UR back within six, but four free throws from Horde and Robert Aguilera got RIT's lead back up to 10.
Rochester's second unit then provided a spark to get the Yellowjackets back within striking distance. Andrew Lundstrom started a 9-0 run that was finished off by seven straight points from sophomore Ryan Clamage. Clamage finished as UR's second leading scorer on the night with 10 points.
After RIT was able to go back up by as many as five with under six minutes to play, UR's Montague took the game over, draining four straight 3-pointers as part of a 12-2 Rochester run, grabbing a five point lead. Montague finished with a game high 24 points, 22 of which came in the second half. He added five 3-pointers on the night and moves into 3rd place all-time in Rochester history in that category, sitting at 192 in his career.
The Tigers would not go away though, scoring the next seven points to pull ahead 71-69 with 2:25 remaining on the clock. Justin Schneider layed in a bucket after a slick behind the back pass from Horde and then Aguilera put RIT on top with an alley-oop slam dunk, again coming on a pass from Horde.
Zack Ayers found Montague for a layup on a back door play to pull even at 71-71 with just 39 seconds on the clock, setting up the final free throws for both sides in the waning seconds.
In the early going the home Tigers jumped out to an early five point lead at 7-2. The Yellowjackets then rattled off four straight 3-pointers, two coming from Ayers in a 12-2 spurt to take a five point lead at 14-9, five minutes into the game.
The rest of the half was played within three points of each other, with the biggest run coming at the tail end of the period when RIT scored five straight points to take a three point lead. At the break, the Tigers led by just one, 32-31.
Rochester as a team shot just 38% from the floor, but was 13-30 (43%) from long range while the Tigers shot well, making 48% of their shots overall and from three (7-17). RIT held the advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Yellowjackets 40-34, but committed 15 turnovers to UR's nine on the night.
Besides Montague's 24 and Clamage's 10 points, Knox finished with 10 points, none bigger than his two from the charity stripe at the end of the game. Ayers had six points, 11 rebounds and three assists while Sam Borst-Smith added seven points, four rebounds and four steals. Overall, all 10 Rochester players that played in the game scored.
RIT's leading scorer was Anthony Lewis who had 17 points off the bench, including going 3-3 from 3-point range. Both Horde and Aguilera had 13 points, with the former adding seven assists and six rebounds. Pierre-Louis scored 12 points and Schneider chipped in 10.