CLEVELAND - Rochester clinched the University Athletic Association men's basketball title with a 95-85 win over Case Western Reserve while Emory University lost at Carnegie Mellon.
The victory boosts Rochester's record to 12-1 in the UAA and 20-4 overall. Case Western Reserve is 4-9 in the UAA, 8-16 overall. It is Rochester's 11th straight victory.
Emory, which held a two-point lead over Carnegie Mellon at halftime, lost, 72-70 in OT. The Eagles are 10-3 in the UAA, 19-5 overall.
Next Saturday, Rochester goes to Emory on 'travel partner' day for the regular season finale.
This is Rochester's first berth in the NCAA tournament since 2007-08 and its first UAA men's title since the 2004-05 season. It is the 10th time the Yellowjackets have won 20 games in a season.
The Yellowjackets outscored Case Western Reserve, 52-38, in the second half to reverse a 47-43 halftime deficit. John DiBartolomeo scored 26 points and handed out 11 assists. Nate Novosel had 19 points and seven rebounds. Chris Dende scored 13 points, David Gould had 12, and Nate Vernon scored nine points.
Austin Fowler led the Spartans with 34 points. Case did not have another player in double figures.
Rochester shot 55.6% from the floor (30-54), 56.3% outside the arc (9-16), and 86.7% from the foul line (26-30). Case hit 48.4% from the floor (31-64), 64.3% outside the arc (9-14), and 58.3% from the line (14-24).
Case had a narrow 34-33 advantage on the backboards. Each team committed eight turnovers.
In the second half, Rochester hit 72% from the floor (18-25) after a 12-29 first half (41.4%). Rochester made three of five outside the arc in the second half (60%) after making six of 11 in the first half (54.5%). Case shot 43.8% from the floor in the second half (14-32) after hitting 53.1% (17-32) in the first half. The Spartans made two of six outside the arc (33%) after halftime. CWRU hit seven of eight outside the arc in the first 20 minutes (87.5%).
Similiarly to Friday night's win at Carnegie Mellon, Rochester used a key second half rally midway through the period to move in front for good. Mike Byrne sank a three-pointer for Case, tying the score at 58-58 with 14:18 left.
The Yellowjackets made back to back conventional three point plays in the next minute. Gould drove for a laup, then made the free throw at 13:55. At 13:18, Dende made a layup and followed with a free throw (64-48). Rob Reid made a layup at 12:50. Dende sank the back end of two free throws at 12:27 (65-58) and Reid made the front end of two at 11:23 for a 66-58 lead.
In the final two and a half minutes, the Yellowjackets put together another mini-surge and wound up with their biggest lead. Rochester led, 87-80. DiBartolomeo made two free throws (he finished 12-12 from the stripe) with 2:29 left. Fowler missed a jumper nad Novosel rebounded the miss. The Yellowjackets set up in the halfcourt offensve and Novosel made a layup from Mike Labanowski's pass (91-80). Fowler missed again at the other end. DiBartolomeo rebounded and found Novosel running downcourt for a fast break layup that made it 93-80 with 1:33 to play.
Notes: This was Luke Flockerzi's 100th game as a head coach and his 50th career victory... DiBartolomeo matched his career assist high. He has 228 assists in two seasons (he had 114 last year in 25 games). He is 17th on Rochester's career list.