University of Rochester men's basketball rolled to a 17-point, 83-66 win over the Nazareth University Golden Flyers in its opening game of the 2023 Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout on Thursday evening at the Manning & Napier Varsity Gym.
Logan Jagodzinski got the scoring started for Rochester, scoring all six of UR's first six points, connecting on three free throws after being fouled behind the arc, before knocking down a try just under two minutes into the contest.
The Yellowjackets would shoot upwards of 50 percent from the floor in the first half, knocking down 7-of-12 three-point attempts as they took an early lead on the Golden Flyers.
Luke Insley scored Nazareth's first points of the night with a layup at the 17:41 mark, before Matt Wiele knocked down his first triple of the night on the ensuing possession.
The 'Jackets and Golden Flyers would trade buckets over the next three minutes with UR holding an 11-9 lead with just under 15 minutes left in the first before back-to-back threes from C.J. Amsellem and Mitchell Kershner made it a 17-9 UR advantage with 13:37 to play.
Nazareth would keep things close, pulling within five on Jack Broderick's layup with 10:22 left in the first half, before a 9-0 run gave the Yellowjackets their largest lead of the night so far.
Wiele knocked down another trey at the 10-minute mark to make it 25-17, before Tomiwa Adetosoye's steal and fast-break dunk gave Rochester its first double-digit lead of the night. Wiele then added two more layups to make it a 31-17 lead, and force the Golden Flyers to take a timeout to regroup.
Down by 14, the Golden Flyers pulled within 10 on five straight from Jaylen Savage, but another Jagodzinski triple late in the first half helped bring UR's lead out to 15 points, before the Golden Flyers would score the final three points of the first half, giving Rochester a 45-33 halftime lead.
The 'Jackets headed into the locker room shooting 59.3 percent from the floor and 58.3 percent from three, led by Jagodzinski's game-high 13 points.
Nazareth would open the second half with three-straight points, cutting UR's lead down to eight, before a 7-0 run over a minute-and-a-half stretch brought the Golden Flyers within three, the closest they'd been since the 14:59 mark of the first half.
But after a block by Wiele prevented Nazareth from getting any closer on the other end, Malachi Moore drew a foul and calmly sank two free throws to put the Yellowjackets back up by five. Rochester then got another stop, and Moore hit a jumper to make it a seven-point game with 11:51 to play.
The Golden Flyers though, would again trim UR's lead down to three with just over eight minutes to play on Insley's layup, but again, the 'Jackets responded with five-in-a-row, as Jagodzinski answered with a triple and after a defensive stop, Wiele scored another layup to put UR back up by eight.
Tyler Putney answered with a three to pull Nazareth within five, but that'd be as close as the Golden Flyers would get the rest of the way. A 7-0 run capped off by another Wiele layup put Rochester up 12 with 3:22 to play, and up by 10, Mitchell Kershner and Moore combined to hit eight free throws over the final 1:02 to seal the victory.
Rochester moves to 2-1 with the win, while the Golden Flyers fall to 1-2 with the loss.
Wiele led all scorers with 21 points, adding three rebounds, three blocks and two assists, shooting 9-for-16 from the floor and 3-for-4 from three, while Jagodzinski added 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Moore joined the pair in double figures with 12 points, shooting 2-for-2 from the field and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line while hauling in seven rebounds.
As a team, Rochester shot 55.8 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from three, knocking down nine three-pointers, compared to just six for Nazareth.