Men’s basketball team loses to Rochester, 67-48, in championship game of Holiday Inn Downtown Tournament

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Olivet College men's basketball team fell to University of Rochester (N.Y.), 67-48, in the championship game of the Holiday Inn Downtown Tournament, held at the Louis Alexander Palestra. For their efforts, seniors Derrick Johnson and Eddie Thigpen were named to the all-tournament team.

Final Score: Rochester (N.Y.) 67, Olivet 48
Location: Louis Alexander Palestra; Rochester, New York
Records: Rochester 6-2 overall, Olivet 2-2 overall

• Olivet led 6-2 before the Yellow Jackets went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead 9-6. Johnson nailed a three-pointer to tie the game. Rochester came back with a 17-5 run over the next five minutes to take its first double digit lead of the game. The Yellowjackets' lead increased to 19 points twice, with the last time being 41-22 at halftime. In the second half, Rochester led by as many as 24 points, 59-35, with 7:51 remaining in the game. The Comets managed to get their deficit down to 15 points in the final 90 seconds of the game.

• For the game, Olivet made 18 total baskets, with half coming from behind the three-point line.
• Thigpen scored a team-best 15 points.
• Johnson tallied 13 points, six rebounds and three assists.
• Junior Noah Wiswary joined them in double figures with 10 points.
• Freshman Patrick Hollis pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.

"To be successful today, we knew we were going to need to have a really strong aggressive effort with penetrating the ball and then finishing tough around the basket," said Olivet head coach Sam Hargraves. "Unfortunately, that did not happen. Rochester is a very long, defensive-minded team and they did a really good job challenging everything we tried to do today. They don't give you anything easy, and we had to be extra tough to get baskets and that didn't happen until parts of the second half."

• Mitchell Kerschner led Rochester with 19 points.
• Andrew Jackson and Trent Noordsij finished with 11 points apiece.
• Brian Amabilino notched 10 points.
• Amabilino and Ross Gang each grabbed 11 rebounds.
• Gang also dished out a team-best five assists.

• Olivet hosts University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Friday, December 10, for its home-opener. Tip-off from the Cutler Event Center is 7 p.m.