Men's Basketball | 1/2/2013 9:26:00 PM

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's basketball team (4-5) had its three-game winning streak snapped, 78-48 by the University of Rochester (11-0) at the Louis Alexander Palestra on a snowy Wednesday evening. Rochester is ranked fourth in the d3hoops.com national poll.

Rochester extended its season-long unbeaten streak to 11 games. Senior John DiBartolomeo led the Yellowjackets with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting with three made 3-pointers, six rebounds and five assists in just 25 minutes of play. Kevin Sheehy and Nate Vernon tallied 10 and nine points each for Rochester.

Nick Dobson (Corning, NY/Corning West) and Eric Travis (Chicago,IL/Hinsdale South) both led RIT with 12 points, each shooting 5-for-7 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line. Travis also led RIT with five boards along with Casey Bobelis (Brandenton, FL/Braden River). Bob Schuster (Livonia, NY/Livonia) dished out a career-best five assists.

Rochester did a lot of its damage from the 3-point line, going 13-for-23. Overall, Rochester shot 47.6 percent from the field, but were at 57 percent overall midway through the second half. The Tigers shot 40 percent from the field and turned the ball over 15 times. Rochester won the battle of the boards, 35-26.

The Yellowjackets broke open a close game late in the first half, going on a 16-4 run over a span of 7:02. Travis converted a lay-up with 8:29 left in the half to make it 21-18 Yellowjackets before DeBartolomeo scored 12 of his 15 first half points to give Rochester a 37-22 lead with 1:27 remaining. Rochester would lead 37-24 at the break.

RIT would shoot 42.3 percent (11-for-26) over the opening 20 minutes, while Rochester would shoot 51.7 percent (15-for-29), while canning five 3-pointers. Rochester held a 15-13 edge on the boards, while the Tigers turned the ball over nine times.

The Yellowjackets pulled away in the second half using different runs of 14-2 and 16-4 to take their biggest lead of the game, 73-41, with 7:18 left in regulation.

Both teams were playing their first games of the 2013 calendar year, off long layoffs. The Tigers last played on Dec. 15, while the Yellowjackets were last in action on Dec. 8.

Rochester leads the all-time series between the two schools, 35-17 and have won both meetings between the teams this season. On Nov. 28, the Yellowjackets defeated RIT in its closest win of the season to date by a score of 66-59 in the opening round of the Wendy's College Classic at Hobart. In that contest DeBartolomeo led Rochester with 25 points, six boards, and six assists. Jameel Balenton (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers) led the Tigers with 14 points.

RIT Head Coach Bob McVean remains three wins shy of becoming the 32nd coach in Division III history to amass 500 in a career.

RIT plays its final non-conference contest of the 2012-13 season on Saturday, with a road contest at Oswego State that gets underway at 4 p.m.