A defensive affair led to the Rochester men's team coming up short by a score of 69-61 against #11 Washington University on Friday evening at the Louis Alexander Palestra. 

With the loss, the Yellowjackets drop to 13-6, 4-6 UAA on the year. For Wash U, they improved to 16-3, 7-1 UAA this season. 

Aggressive play from Rochester in the early stages of the first half held Wash U to 2-of-6 from the field during the first six minutes of action. During that stretch, they forced four turnovers. 

The team made their presence felt in the paint, as Rochester scored 10 of their opening 19 points from inside. It was in large thanks to Kailan Lee, who scored eight points in the half. He finished the game with an additional two boards and two assists.

Despite holding Wash U to 1-of-8 from deep, Rochester trailed 30-28 at the half, as the Yellowjackets made just 1-of-6 from beyond the arc.

The Yellowjackets were forced to play from behind after Wash U opened the second half with a 14-4 run.

Ryan Algier was among the players attempting to keep Rochester in the game, adding six of the team's opening 10 points in the second half. He finished the game with 17 points, nine boards and two assists, with all his scoring coming in the second half. 

A late 8-0 run by Rochester with less than three minutes to play cut their deficit down to nine points. Algier was responsible for six of the points during the run, with Ross Gang adding the other bucket.  Gang finished with 13 points and six boards.

Wash U managed to hit enough free throws in the final minutes in order to prevent the Yellowjackets from earning what would have been a key win in the UAA standings. 

Rochester finished 25-of-65 (38.5%) from the field, 4-of-23 (17.4%) from deep, and 7-of-14 (50% from the charity stripe. They ended neck-and-neck with Wash U in the rebound battle, winning by a 38-37 margin. 

The Yellowjackets will look ahead as they host University of Chicago on Sunday at 12pm.