From University of Rochester Athletics
The 17th-ranked University of Rochester men's basketball team won the de-facto championship game of the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout, rallying to defeat Nazareth College 75-63 on Saturday evening at RIT's Clark Gymnasium.
The Yellowjackets (8-1), found themselves down by as many as 10 points in the second half, but on a late game surge, especially from the free throw line to come from behind for the victory. The loss drops Nazareth to 2-4 on the season.
Junior Ryan Clamage picked up his third tournament MVP honor of the season, scoring 19 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists while going 10-10 from the charity stripe. Sixteen of Clamage's points and all eight rebounds came in the second half. Teammate Jacob Wittig matched him with 19 points, adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, also earning All-Tournament Team accolades. Andrew Lundstrom chipped in 11 points and five boards for UR.
The Golden Flyers had three players in double-figure scoring led by Tyler Stenglein who had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Chris Jones had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Cody Green added 12 points for Nazareth.
Rochester finished the game in a flurry, outscoring Nazareth 18-2 over the final 4:10 to turn a four-point deficit into a 12-point victory. Lundstrom kicked off the run with a three-pointer and two Clamage free throws put UR ahead for good with 3:19 left. Patrick Benka then drained a triple and Clamage and Wittig scored the final ten points for the Yellowjackets, eight of which were free throws.
After taking a slim 35-32 lead into intermission, Nazareth built a double-digit lead on the heels of a 9-2 spurt to open the second half. Stenglein and Stephen Gabel each hit a pair of free throws before a Lundstrom bucket, but Nazareth then scored the next five points, two by Stenglein and a 3-pointer by Green to put the Golden Flyers up 44-34 with 17:25 remaining.
Rochester scored the next eight points, four by Brendan O'Shea and two each from Wittig and Benka to cut the lead to just two with under 13 minutes on the clock, but Nazareth fought it off, regaining as much as a seven-point margin with under 9:26 left.
In the opening nine minutes, UR held an early lead, going ahead by as many as six at 17-11 following five straight points from Jacob Urban off the bench. The Yellowjacket sophomore finished the game with nine points
Nazareth would then grab the lead and hold onto it until late in the contest with a 14-2 run which ended with the Golden Flyers up 25-19 with six minutes left in the first half.