PITTSFORD, NY – The University of Rochester basketball team was able to rally from a 10-point deficit in the second half, but host Nazareth College rebounded late for an 81-73 victory on Thursday evening at Kidera Gymnasium in the opening day of the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout tournament.
 
The Yellowjackets (3-1) actually earned a 10-point lead at the midway point of the first half, only to see the Golden Flyers (3-1) post a late half run to pull even at halftime.
 
In the second half, Nazareth quickly gained its first lead of the game after a Logan Blankenberg 3-pointer and used that to jumpstart a 16-3 run to put the hosts up 55-42.
 
UR was able to chip away slowly and eventually gained the lead at 64-63 on a jumper from Dan Masino with 4:44 left in regulation. The Masino basket completed a Rochester 12-2 spurt over five minutes which also featured a Ross Gang 3-pointer and seven straight points from Brian Amabilino Perez.
 
Amabilino Perez finished as UR's leading scorer in the game with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while also grabbing seven rebounds. Gang was the only other Yellowjacket in double-figures with 10 points.
 
After Rochester regained the lead, Nazareth scored on back-to-back possessions with Jonathan Park and Stephen Gabel to edge ahead by three 67-64 with 3:31 on the clock.
 
A Gang jump shot pulled UR within one a minute later, but that was as close as the visitors would get the rest of the way.
 
Gabel recorded an old-fashioned 3-point play on the next Golden Flyer possession to regain a 4-point cushion. Down the stretch, Gabel and Zach Stenglein went a combined 11-of-12 from the free throw line to seal the victory.
 
Nazareth's Gabel led all players with 27 points, going 8-for-13 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Stenglein had 21 points, including 12 free throws and a game-high nine rebounds, while Blankenberg finished with 12 points.
 
In the first half, Rochester pulled ahead early by six at 14-8 following an Amir Basma and-one bucket.
 
Nazareth tied it following back-to-back triples from Brendan Broderick and Gabel before UR scored the next 10 points to be up 26-16 nine minutes into the contest. In the run, Masino made a floater, Mitchell Kershner and C.J. Amsellem made 3-pointers and Amabilino Perez chipped in two free throws.
 
Rochester continued to lead by ten with five minutes left in the half before Nazareth closed the opening 20 minutes on a 12-2 rush to head into the locker room tied up at 39-all.
 
For the game, the Yellowjackets finished a shade under 50% shooting, going 27-of-55 from the floor. UR made eight 3-pointers, two each by Gang, Amsellem and Andrew Jackson, and pulled down 32 total rebounds.
 
Nazareth shot 42% from the field (23-55) and had 32 rebounds, but were terrific from the free throw line, making 26-of-29 shots for an 89.7% rate.
 
The Yellowjackets finish play at the Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout on Saturday in a 6 pm matchup against St. John Fisher, also to be played at Nazareth.