The University of Rochester of Rochester men's basketball team posted a sensational rally in the second half, rebounding from as many as 15 points down in the game to earn a hard-fought 76-72 victory over the 20th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday afternoon in the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
First-year Jordan Owusu hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds left and then sank four clutch free throws down the stretch to push the Yellowjackets (10-10, 3-6 UAA) to the victory.
 
Trailing by two points with a minute left, URochester's John Mayhew secured a steal to give the Yellowjackets a chance to take the lead. WashU (13-7, 3-6 UAA) blocked a layup attempt that would have tied the game, but a loose ball rebound kept alive by M.J. Young, was secured by Justin Odibo, with the sophomore whipping a pass over to the left corner where Owusu buried the three to put the Yellowjackets in front for good.
 
At the other end, WashU's Ryan Cohen missed a 3-point attempt, with Owusu skying for the rebound. After getting fouled, the Rochester rookie calmly made both ends at the charity stripe to extend the lead out to four with ten seconds on the clock.
 
Rochester committed a foul on a 3-pointer at the other end to allow Cohen to head to the line for three. The WashU guard sank two of them, getting it back to a two-point game, but John Mayhew came up with a big rebound, his 15th of the game, to secure possession and called timeout for the Yellowjackets.
 
On the ensuing inbounds, Owusu was fouled, and again swished through both free throws to seal the game away. URochester's win was the first over the Bears in the last eight meetings, and also was the first over any ranked opponent since January of 2024 when UR topped 22nd-ranked Emory.
 
Mayhew finished off a career day, ending as the Yellowjackets leading scorer with 15 points, with both the scoring and rebound totals being career-high's. Owusu finished with 11 points, seven of which came in the final minute.
 

Four other 'Jackets finished in double figures, with Corvin Oprea ending with 14 points and six rebounds. He went 8-for-8 from the free throw line to boost his total. Tomiwa Adetosoye scored 13 points and had eight boards, while Odibo chipped in 11 points. Theo Murray added a double-digit effort off the bench, scoring ten points on 5-of-7 shooting.
 
Washington's Anthony Przybilla led all players with 18 points. Connor May scored 16 and had eight rebounds, while Cohen scored ten. Yogi Oliff, who had a triple-double in WashU's win over Rochester last Sunday, had another solid all-around effort, with 17 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals to go along with 4 points.
 
It was a slow start for both teams in the early going, with an Adetosoye step-back jumper giving UR a 4-2 lead after three minutes of play.
 
WashU scored the next eight points, with four different players scoring, to grab a 10-4 advantage through five minutes.
 
Later on, the Bears had another run, this time scoring ten straight to reach a game-high 15-point lead, up 23-8 at the 9:35 mark of the half.
 
Back-to-back triples from Odibo and Mayhew got the lead back down to single-digits with under seven minutes to play. The margin remained around that number the rest of the period, with the Bears ending the first 20 minutes up by 11, leading 39-28.
 
A Calvin Kapral hook shot put the Bears up 14 points with 18 minutes to go before the Yellowjackets went on an extended 17-5 run to pull within two on the scoreboard.
 
Adetosoye had an and-one chance at the end of the rush, but corralled his own free throw miss, with Murray making it a four-point possession with under 14 minutes to play. Murray's tough bucket inside made the score 51-49 WashU.
 
Josh Kim answered for the Bears with an old-fashioned 3-point play at the other end, and after another Murray layup in the paint, Cohen drained his second triple of the game to extend the lead back to six points.
 
Oprea scored four straight points for the 'Jackets, but two Przybilla free throws kept the Bears in front. Eventually, Oprea sank two more free throws and Adetosoye nailed a jumper in the lane to knot the game at 59-all with 9:08 left.
 
Over the next three and a half minutes, Washington was able to build the lead back up to six points, with Przybilla scoring six points in an 11-5 run that brought the score to 70-64 in favor of the visitors.
 
Przybilla's layup with 5:40 left was the last field goal of the game for the Bears, as the Yellowjackets ended the contest on a 12-2 spurt to complete the comeback. Over the final four minutes, the Yellowjacket defense clamped down, allowing the Bears to shoot 0-for-6 from the floor while committing two turnovers.
 
For the game, the Yellowjackets were outrebounded 49-44 by the Bears, but 13 offensive boards led to 18 second chance points for URochester. Both teams shot similar numbers from the floor throughout the game, but the Yellowjackets ended by having a slight edge in free throw shooting, 82% (18-22) to 62% (15-24) for the Bears.
 
Rochester remains home next weekend for its final UAA weekend in the Palestra. The Yellowjackets are home versus NYU on Friday evening, before hosting Brandeis on Senior Day Sunday in what will be the final home game of the season.