St. Louis, Mo. – The No. 19 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team defeated Rochester 80-79 in an overtime thriller on Sunday afternoon in the WashU Field House. The Bears improve to 12-2 overall with a 2-1 mark in conference play.
 
Sophomore Calvin Kapral led the Bears with 21 points – tying his career high – to go with six rebounds and two blocks. Junior Drake Kindsvater netted 18 points with nine rebounds and two steals while junior Kyle Beedon had 12 points including 4-for-6 from 3-point range. Sophomore Yogi Oliff recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds as well as three assists.
 
Kapral netted the first six points of the game for the Bears for a 4-3 edge. After things were tied up 6-6, Kapral hit a pair of free throws and Kindsvater put in a layup for a 10-6 lead with 16:33 on the clock.
 
Rochester tied the game and then took a 14-12 lead following a 3-pointer from Logan Jagodzinski and a jumper from C.J. Amsellem. The Bears answered with a 9-0 run to take a 21-14 lead with 11:22 remaining in the first half.
 
Beedon hit a shot from distance to start things off and Kapral followed with a pair of free throws. Oliff netted back-to-back jumpers for the seven-point lead.
 
The Yellowjackets scored six-straight to make it a two-point game with 8:29 on the clock and it would be a six-point or fewer gap until back-to-back layups from Kindsvater and Oliff WashU up 36-28 at 5:11.
 
The Bears hit double-digits with just under a minute remaining in the first as Kapral hit a layup and Kindsvater had an offensive putback to f a 43-33 WashU edge. Rochester hit the final shot of the first half, sending the Bears into halftime with a 43-35 lead.
 
Rochester scored the first four points of the second half to make it 43-39 and brought it down to a two-point game at the 16:10 mark following a jumper from Malachi Moore. The Yellowjackets then scored six-straight to take a one-point, 49-48 lead with 14:35 remaining.
 
The Bears quickly recovered, going on a 11-0 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes.
 
First-year Jake Davis and Beedon connected for a pick-and-roll and Davis slammed one home to start off the run. First-year Lucas Vogel hit a jumper and Oliff netted a layup. Beedon drilled a shot from distance and Kapral had an offensive putback for a 59-49 lead with 11:57 on the clock.
 
WashU took its largest lead of the game at the 7:06 mark following six-straight. Kindsvater scored following a Davis steal and Oliff hit the front end of a pair of free throws. Beedon hit another 3-pointer, making it a 14-point, 67-53 game.
 
Down 10, Rochester started a run at 4:20 that ultimately tied things up at 70 apiece. Kindsvater scored on an and-one play but a 3-pointer from Rochester's Malachi Moore with 28 seconds remaining tied the game and forced overtime.
 
The Yellowjackets scored the first points of overtime but the Bears quickly tied things up with a layup from Kapral.
 
The game was tied twice more at 75 and 77 before WashU took a lead.
 
Following a flop call, Kindsvater hit a free throw and Kapral netted a pair of free throws after being fouled. Doyle hit a jumper in the paint to put WashU up 80-77 with 1:19 remaining.
 
A layup from Rochester's Matt Wiele with seven seconds left made it a one-point game.
 
Things looked like they may swing in Rochester's favor when the Bears were whistled for a five-second call, giving the Yellowjackets the ball back. Moore attempted the game-winner for Rochester as the buzzer was sounding but Doyle came up with a huge block to give WashU the thrilling win.
 
The Bears hit the road next weekend, starting with a 7:30 p.m. ET game at NYU on Friday and a 12 p.m. ET game at Brandeis on Sunday.
 
WashU will be home again on Friday, Jan. 26 and Sunday, Jan. 28 as the Bears host Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve University, respectively.