ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The No. 20 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team fell to Rochester 76-72 following a big second half by the Yellowjackets. The Bears are now 13-7 on the year with a 3-6 mark in UAA play.
Sophomore
Anthony Przybilla led the team with 18 points to go with five rebounds while sophomore
Connor May scored 16 points, pulled down eight boards and had two blocks. Junior
Ryan Cohen finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists while senior
Yogi Oliff neared 20 rebounds for the third-straight game, pulling down 17.
It was WashU who took command during the first half, eventually leading by double-digits.
After a layup from Cohen tied things up at 4-4, the Bears scored six more points on layups from Oliff, May and senior
Calvin Kapral for a 10-4 edge at 14:55. After a Rochester bucket, Cohen drained a 3-pointer to make it a seven-point, 13-6 lead for the Bears.
Following a Yellowjackets score, the Bears went on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes, starting with a free throw from first-year
Josh Kim. Junior
George Gale put in a layup, followed by a bucket from Przybilla. Senior
Will Grudzinski drained a shot from distance and Przybilla dunked off a steal by Oliff to give WashU a 23-8 lead at 9:35.
WashU continued to maintain a double-digit lead until 6:13 when Rochester's John Mayhew hit a 3-pointer to make it a nine-point, 27-18 game. Less than one minute later, May hit a 3-pointer to extend the Bears' lead back to 12-points, 30-18.
Rochester cut the Bears' lead to nine points two more times in the first half but WashU ultimately went into halftime with a 39-28 lead.
The Yellowjackets scored the first two points of the second half on a pair of free throws from Corvin Oprea. Przybilla answered with a layup at 19:12 and May followed with a 3-pointer to put WashU up 14-points, 44-30 with 18:35 on the clock.
Down 14 with just under 18 minutes left, Rochester went on a 8-0 run that cut the Bears' advantage to 46-40 by 15:41.
The Bears extended it back up to eight before the Yellowjackets scored four more to make it a four-point, 49-45 game with 14:21 remaining. Kim put in a layup before Rochester had back-to-back buckets for a two-point, 51-49 game at 13:23.
WashU held on to a small lead over the next few minutes but a jumper from Tomiwa Adetosoye at 9:08 tied things up at 59-59.
Oliff and Przybilla put in a pair of layups to take back a four-point, 63-59 lead at 8:06 but Rochester quickly cut it to one with a 3-pointer from Mayhew.
The tide turned for Rochester in the final four minutes of the game. Down six at 3:37, the Yellowjackets went on a 10-0 run that put them ahead 74-70 with just 10 seconds remaining.
Cohen netted a pair of free throws with five seconds left to make it a two-point game, but Rochester put in two free throws as well to close out the game.
WashU shot 26-for-69 (37.7%) and edged Rochester 49-44 on the boards.
The Bears are home again next weekend, starting with a 5:30 p.m. game against Carnegie Mellon on Friday evening. On Sunday, WashU takes on Case Western Reserve at 2 p.m.
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