The University of Rochester men's basketball team got a career high 40 points from junior
John DiBartolomeo and defeated Emory University 92-73 on Saturday afternoon in the Palestra.
The junior from Westport, CT, scored 40 points on 11-15 field goals, grabbed 9 rebounds, handed out 6 assists and had 4 steals to cap a great all-around night. DiBartolomeo was also 4-4 from 3-point range and 14-15 from the free throw line in his career night. He is the first player to score 40 points in a game since Chris Fite notched that number against St. John Fisher in 1992.
The Yellowjackets (17-8, 8-6 UAA) honored the three seniors before the game as Nate Novosel,
Chris Dende and
Marcus Williams all played their last home game in UR colors.
The game was closely played for teams fighting for position in the UAA standings early on, as neither team had a lead bigger than four in the first 10 minutes.
Emory (19-6, 8-6 UAA) then boosted to a five point cushion after a three by Alex Greven 11 minutes into the game. The Eagles then made it a six point lead after a Jake Davis trey with 6:24 remaining in the half.
That would prove to be the biggest lead Emory would hold as the Yellowjackets answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Dende and DiBartolomeo to pull even at 30-30. DiBartolomeo's play was a four-point play and ignited the Palestra crowd.
Those seven points started an 18-3 run to close first half, ending with a 42-33 lead. At the break DiBartolomeo and Dende led the Yellowjackets with 15 each. Davis was the top Eagle in the half, scoring 12 points.
Austin Claunch of Emory scored the first bucket of the second half, but then UR scored the next 11 points to enhance the Rochester lead to 18 four minutes into the second session.
The lead got up to 19 after a Novosel free throw made the score 58-39 at 12:19, but the Eagles showed their resilience and fought hard to get back into the game. Emory ran off a 12-1 run after that to bring the lead back down to eight. Michael Friedberg scored eight points in the spurt to fuel the Eagles.
After that, UR took complete control. Dende hit a twisting lay in for a traditional 3-point play to get the lead back up to double digits. Then after an Eagles turnover, the bench was hit with two technical fouls for disputing with the officials. DiBartolomeo calmly hit all four free throws and the lead was back up to 15.
With Rochester in the double bonus the rest of the way, Emory had to hope for the Yellowjackets to struggle from the line in order to get back into it. UR did not, hitting 17 of 18 from the charity stripe in the last 6:30 of the game. The Yellowjackets finished making 27-30 (90%) free-throws for the game.
DiBartolomeo was UR's top player but Dende also had an exceptional game to close out the season finishing with 21 points on 6-8 3-pointers and grabbing 6 rebounds. Novosel finished with 14 points and
Nate Vernon added 13 as Rochester's other double-digit scorers. The third senior Williams did not score for UR, but was a defensive force blocking a career-high four Emory shots.
Emory was led by Davis who finished with 21 points and five rebounds. Friedberg added 18 points and five boards while Claunch chipped in 12 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Rochester finishes the season tied for third in the UAA with the Eagles at 8-6 in the University Athletic Association. Washington University in St. Louis won the conference (11-3) and earned the automatic berth to NCAA tournament. NYU finished a sole second in the UAA with a 9-5 record in conference play.
