On the football field, junior Dean Kennedy is counted on to provide offense as the Yellowjackets starting quarterback.  On the basketball court, Head Coach Luke Flockerzi relies on Kennedy to provide strong defense and hustle.
 
Kennedy, sophomore Kent Coyne and senior John DiBartolomeo combined for 10 steals and tough, gritty defense as the University of Rochester men's basketball team kept its perfect season alive with a 93-81 victory over #12 Washington-St. Louis in UAA action Sunday afternoon.
 
The Yellowjackets (14-0, 3-0 UAA), ranked #4 in the latest D3hoops.com poll, also got double-digit scoring from five different players, including a game high from DiBartolomeo.  The All-American guard had 29 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds to lead UR.  With the six helpers, he moved into a tie for 3rd place with Terry Fitzgerald in Rochester history with 472 assists.
 
For Washington (11-3, 1-2 UAA), six players were in double figure scoring with big man Chris Klimek leading the way with 19 points and six rebounds.  Alan Aboona, Ben Hoener and Kevin Bischoff each scored 11 for the Bears while Nick Burt and Matt Palucki each had 10 points.
 
The Yellowjackets used a 10-1 run to break open a close game, midway through the second half, sparked by two Tyler Seidman 3-pointers, one of which was set up by a Kennedy steal.  That put the score at 66-55 with just 8:30 remaining in the game.
 
Another 12-2 run behind some strong free throw shooting extended the Rochester lead to 19 points less than three minutes later.  UR made 26 more free throws than the Bears and was led by two unlikely suspects in big men Tyler Sankes and Rob Reid.  The two went a combined 11-12 from the charity stripe and helped UR finish 32-36 overall.  On the season, Rochester ranks at the top in Division III in free throw percentage.
 
The Bears came into the game the leading team in Division III's rebounding margin, but UR ended with a 32-31 edge on the glass, thanks in large part to the strong work of Reid and Sankes.  Those two would combine for 23 points and 17 rebounds inside.
 
Rochester got out of the gate quick using a 9-2 spurt to grab the early lead, but the 12th ranked Bears would battle back with an extended 22-4 run to gain an eight point edge at 28-20 with 7:54 left in the first half.  That burst was paced by nine Klimek points.  He ended the half with 15 points on 7-10 shooting.
 
UR would answer right back though, rattling off a 13-2 run to regain the lead.  A Nate Vernon jumper with 3:58 left in the half would make the lead 33-30 in favor of the home Yellowjackets.  At the break, UR held a slim 43-39 lead.
 
With the win, the Yellowjackets have won four of the last five meetings with Washington and extended two home court winning streaks.  UR has won 19 straight at home in the conference (UAA) and 32 straight overall in the Palestra during the regular season.
 
For the Yellowjackets, DiBartolomeo paced UR but got some scoring help from his teammates as Vernon scored 13 points, Sankes had 13, Seidman 11 and Reid 10.  The Bears dished out 22 assists, but that was equaled in the turnover column while UR turned it over 20 times to just 13 assists.
 
After the first three UAA games being at home, the Yellowjackets next travel to Pittsburgh to take on Carnegie Mellon on Friday before moving on to Cleveland to face Case Western Reserve on Sunday.