Rochester (14-6, 5-4 UAA), who was playing without leading scorer Jon Onyiriuka (11.6 ppg), moved out to an early 15-5 lead with 12:39 remaining left behind the outside shooting of Mike Goia and Jeff Juron. Junior Jonathan Breshears came off the bench for Washington U. to score three consecutive buckets as the Bears trailed 22-12. Senior Scott Stone, who started his 70th-consecutive game, followed with a three-pointer to cut the lead to 24-17, but Rochester extended the lead to 30-20 at halftime.
The Yellowjackets, ranked second in Division III in field goal percentage defense (36.2), held the Bears to 30.8% (8-26) shooting from the field in the first half. The 20 points scored by the Bears in the first half was a season low. Uche Nbubizu, who replaced Onyiriuka in the starting lineup, scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half to lead the Yellowjackets. Juron also had eight points in the first half for Rochester.
The Bears trimmed the lead to 36-30 with 13:32 remaining after sophomore Troy Ruths had two lay-ups and a free-throw and senior Mike Grunst added a two-hand dunk.
WU cut the lead to 38-34 after a lay-up by freshman Sean Wallis, but Rochester answered with a 9-0 run as Tim Brackney came off the bench to score seven straight points. Brackney hit his second-consecutive three-pointer to push the lead to 52-38.
Ruths led the Bears with 12 points and a career-high six assists as he scored in double figures for the 25th-consecutive game. WU shot 37.3 percent for the game and had just seven turnovers in the loss. Brackney had 15 points off the bench to lead Rochester. Juron (12), Nbubizu (12) and Goia (10) also scored in double figures for the Yellowjackets.
Washington University (13-7, 5-4 UAA) returns to action Fri., Feb. 10 at home against Case Western Reserve University. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at the WU Field House.