Behind a 25-8 second-half run, the University of Rochester men's basketball defeated the RIT Tigers, 85-68 on Tuesday evening inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
Up eight at the break after Nate Sock knocked down a triple at the buzzer, the Yellowjackets got things going in the third quarter on Corvin Oprea's first three-pointer of the game, going up nine after Matt Caggiano opened up the second-half scoring for the Tigers with a driving layup 45 seconds in.
 
Kenny Wilburn answered Oprea's three with a jumper on the other end, cutting UR's lead to seven, but that'd be as close as the Tigers would get the rest of the way.  
 
A 10-0 run over the next 2:09, capped off by David Ackles fastbreak dunk from Tomiwa Adetosoye, gave Rochester its largest lead of the night, 55-38 with just over 16 minutes to play. And while five quick points over the next 33 seconds from Luke Granto slowed UR's roll, the 'Jackets would get on another run, turning a 59-43 advantage into a 67-44 lead.
 
Layups from Adetosoye and Theo Murray brought Rochester's lead out to 18 before Sock's pull-up jumper off Bennett Kwiecinski's assist gave UR its first 20-point lead of the night, while Camden Fleming capped off the 10-1 run with another three at the 12:36 mark, the 'Jackets eighth of the night.
 
Down the stretch, Rochester led by as many as 30 after back-to-back triples by Logan Jagodzinski and Oprea with 5:13 to play, before the Tigers ended the game on a 14-2 run to close the final deficit to 17, 85-68.
 
Ackles got the scoring started in the first half with a layup 10 seconds in, before the Tigers took their first and only lead, 4-2, on Kenny Wilburn's jumper from Chase Dickens with with 19:08 remaining in the first.
 
Two free throws by Oprea leveled the score at four-all and jumpstarted Rochester's offense, as UR answered Wilburn's jumper with 11-straight points to take a 13-4 lead.
 
Jagodzinski scored five of UR's 11 points over the 11-0 run, sinking a layup to make it a 6-4 ballgame, and knocking down the 'Jackets first three of the evening to make it an 11-4 Rochester advantage.
 
The Yellowjackets led by as many as 12 with 14:10 to play in the first following another Jagodzinski triple, while seven-straight from Ethan McEachern brought UR out to a 23-11 lead.
 
The Tigers would make their way back though, cutting the deficit to five with a seven-point spurt over the next two minutes, before Fleming's triple just shy of the 9:15 mark and Nate Beitel's jumper again made it a 10-point lead.
 
Dickens' triple and two free throws from Mark Osime made it a four-point game with 3:41 left in the half, while Josiah Turner's layup brought RIT within three, 35-32, with 3:07 to play in the first half, but the Yellowjackets ended the first half on a 7-2 run, holding RIT to just 1-for-4 from the field over the final 3:06 of the opening period, before getting on a roll to start the second.
 
Jagodzinski and Kwiecinski each notched buckets to make it a five-point lead, before Sock's buzzer-beating triple sent UR into the halftime break up 42-34.
 
With the win, Rochester moves to 2-1 on the year, while the Tigers fall to 1-2.
 
Jagodzinski led all scorers with 18 points, adding 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the year. Oprea and Sock joined the senior in double figures with 13 and 11 points apiece, while Adetosoye added eight points and a team-high nine assists.
 
As a team, the 'Jackets shot 51.6 percent from the field and 43.5 percent (10-for-23) from deep, while the Tigers shot 40.3 percent overall, and just 30.0 percent (6-for-20) from beyond the arc.
 
The 'Jackets also scored 19 points off 14 RIT turnovers, and dished out 19 assists.