Chi Huang, Photographer
The UR Men’s Basketball Team made an outstanding 65-60 comeback for their first win of 2015 on Friday against Carnegie Mellon University to break an eight-game losing streak.
The spotlight was on UR sophomores Sam Borst-Smith and Mack Montague. Borst-Smith led all scorers with 20 points, tacking on 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists. Montague put up an additional 13 points.
UR began the game with a rocky start, giving up the first six points of the game to Carnegie Mellon. Rochester responded with seven-point run; a jumper from Montague and two baskets from Borst-Smith.
As the game progressed, both teams struggled to maintain a lead, and the first half ended with Carnegie Mellon up 33-30. Rochester came out motivated and ready, starting off the second half with an 11-point run, after giving up only three points.
UR shot 33% (22/66) from the field, including six three-pointers, while Carnegie Mellon finished at 36% (18/50) with four threes. The game stayed relatively close and included 13 lead changes. Rochester forced Carnegie to turn the ball over 19 times, which made all the difference in a game where both teams crashed the boards equally well.
After defeating Carnegie Mellon on Friday, the Yellowjackets struggled to keep up with Case Western Reserve University, losing the game on Sunday 63-29 at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
Although UR played hard, Case Western was able to push past them and ended the first half with a 17-point lead. Case Western finished the first 20 minutes shooting with a whopping 87.5% (7/8) of their threes and 56% (14/25) on the floor. Rochester, on the other hand, only made 15.4% (2/13) of their threes and 30.8% (8/26) on the floor.
Halfway through the second half, Case Western was in the lead by over 30 points. While Rochester did not give up, their game was just not strong enough to match with Case. The final score was 65-35, with Case scoring 44.6% (25/56) on the floor and 68.8% (11/26) of their threes, and Rochester scoring 25.9% (14/54) on the floor and 21.1% (4/19) behind the arc.
Rochester was led by sophomore Sam Borst-Smith and senior Tyler Seidman, both with six points, closely followed by senior Kevin Sheehy with five.
Case Western scored 25 points off of turnovers, which demonstrates the importance of minimizing mistakes. This win puts Case Western in first place in the UAA standings with a record of 4-1 in UAA and 13-3 overall.
The Yellowjackets, who now stand with five wins on the season and one win in UAA, will hopefully redeem themselves when they get back out on the court on Friday against NYU at 8pm.
Garcia is a member of the class of 2017.
