In a game that featured 58 fouls and 68 combined free throws, University of Rochester men's basketball rallied late but came up short against the Hobart College Statesmen, falling by the final score of 97-88, on Tuesday evening inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
Though they trailed by nine at the break and by as many as 13 with 16:09 to play, Rochester clawed their way back against the Statesmen, tying things up with under 10 minutes to play, and twice cutting Hobart's lead down to one down the stretch.
 
After Tomiwa Adetosoye opened the second-half scoring with a layup, Gabriel Bergeron sank a triple to give Hobart its first double-digit lead of the night, 49-39, less than a minute into the second half.
 
Dorian Paki's dunk less than a minute later made it a 12-point game, while Parki's and-one and Allen Mordi's triple at the 16:09 mark gave the Statesmen their largest lead of the night, 57-44.
 
However, the 'Jackets would slowly whittle away at Hobart's lead, pulling back within 10 on Adetosoye's layup with 14:32 remaining. Then, after Mordi sand a pair of free throws, Theo Murray and Corvin Oprea cut the Statesmen's lead to seven, opening an 11-1 Rochester run.
 
Adetosoye sank another layup and hit a pair of free throws, as both teams would be in the double bonus for much of the second half. And after another stop on the defensive end, Oprea made it a two-point game with 10:32 to play.
 
Alex Moesch and Oprea traded buckets, while Murray answered Mordi's layup with a triple to pull URochester within one, 66-65, with less than 10 minutes left. Rochester got a stop on Hobart's ensuing possession, and on the offensive end, Oprea drew another foul, going 1-for-2 at the line to tie the score for the first time since the 9:04 mark of the first half.
 
Hobart, though, would score the next five to retake the lead, while four-straight from Jordan Owusu, capped off by a steal and a slam, pulled the 'Jackets within one, 71-70 with 6:50 remaining.
 
Two possessions later, Rochester again trailed by one, 73-72, as Niko Lutz and Oprea traded buckets, but that'd be as close as the 'Jackets would get the rest of the way. The Statesmen scored the next seven points, as the Yellowjackets went 0-3 from the field and 0-for-2 from the free-throw line over the next four possessions.
 
Poor free-throw shooting plagued the Yellowjackets all night, as URochester shot 17-of-32 from the foul line, compared to 27-for-36 for Hobart.
 
Murray's three-point play cut the lead back down to five with 4:27 left, but after an empty trip down the floor, Hobart stretched its lead back to nine on Jackson Carey's layup with four minutes left.
 
Justin Odibo answered with a three, and after Moesch went 1-for-2 at the line, Murray cashed another jumper to again make it a five-point game. But despite a turnover on Hobart's ensuing possession, the 'Jackets couldn't convert on the other end, and Moesch stretched the lead back to seven.
 
Another Odibo triple made it a four-point game, but Murray and Adetosoye would both miss triples on UR's next trip down the floor, while the Statesmen went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line to make it a 91-83 lead with 1:51 left.
 
Trailing by 10 late, Oprea hit a three to pull URochester within seven, 95-88, with 10 seconds left, but it'd prove to be too little, too late as Hobart sank their free throws down the stretch to finish off the 97-88 victory.
 
Rochester opened the first half with back-to-back threes from Sam Henderson and Oprea, taking their largest lead of the night, 10-2, just under two minutes into the contest. URochester went cold over the next three minutes, though, as Hobart answered back with a 12-2 run to take the lead with 14:23 remaining in the first half.
 
The two sides would keep things close for much of the first half, with Odibo's first triple at the 7:41 mark tying the score at 24-all.
 
Hobart would stretch its lead to nine over the next four minutes, as Rochester scored just one field goal over the next 4:08 and shot just 3-for-10 over the final 6:39 of the first half. Six straight from Harrison Muntner, all coming in the paint, gave Hobart a 40-32 lead, while two Justin Price free throws extended the Statesmen's lead to nine.
 
Adetosoye would tally a pair of buckets over the final two minutes, but Mordi stretched Hobart's lead back to nine as the Statesmen broke Rochester's press, giving Hobart a 46-37 lead at the break.
 
The loss drops the Yellowjackets to 5-1 on the year, while Hobart moves to 5-1 with the win.
 
Oprea led Rochester with 20 points, adding a team-high nine rebounds, while Adetosoye scored 19 points to go along with three rebounds and nine assists. Odibo and Murray also scored in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively, as Rochester shot 42.5 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent (9-for-27) from beyond the arc.
 
Mordi was Hobart's leading scorer with 17, while Monty Nedd fell just shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 boards. Hobart dominated Rochester on the glass, outrebounding UR, 54-38, and 17-12 on the offensive glass. The Statesmen scored 19 second-chance points and outscored Rochester in the paint, 56-44.
 
The Yellowjackets will look to bounce back when they return to the court on Tuesday, Dec. 2, with a matchup at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.