FINAL SCORE: #1 Rochester College Warriors 77, #8 The Apprentice School Builders 68

FINAL SCORE: #1 Rochester College Warriors 77, #8 The Apprentice School Builders 68

RECORDS: Rochester 24-5; Apprentice 12-11

LOCATION: Penn State Fayette Main Arena, Uniontown, PA

IN BRIEF: Rochester College had four players in double digits as the Warriors defeated the Builders of The Apprentice School 77-68 in the opening round of the Men's Division I Tournament Wednesday.

ON THE COURT

• The first six minutes was a back-and-forth contest before an alley-oop from Rochester's Paris Pereira to Jeroen De Baat sparked a 8-0 Warriors run that made the score 19-11.
• The teams traded baskets for the next five-plus minutes of game clock before The Apprentice School scored on three-straight possessions to cut Rochester's lead to just two.
• Rochester then went on a mini-run in the final 4:19 of the half to go into the break with a 34-29 lead over the Builders.
• In the first five minutes of the second half, the Warriors opened an 11-point lead with the help of back-to-back three pointers from Justin Nafso and Nick Tutu, followed by a layup by Angelo Griffis.
• After trading baskets for the next few minutes, Rochester re-established an 11-point differential with 12:38 left in the game off another Griffis layup, and later extended their lead to as much as 20 in the second half.  Although Apprentice was able to get within nine points in the final minute of the game, the Warriors double-digit lead through much of the second half was one that the Builders were ultimately unable to deconstruct.
• The Apprentice School's Jay Melendez led all scorers in the losing effort with 23 points, while also bringing down 10 rebounds. 

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

• Angelo Griffins led the Warriors with 22 points and 9 rebounds, including going 8 of 12 from the field.  Nick Tutu, Jeroen De Baat, and Justin Nafso were also in double figures for Rochester.
• Two Builders recorded double-doubles for the game, with Jay Melendez recording 23 points and 10 boards, and Michael Gainey adding 13 points and 10 rebounds.  Cameron Perry also added 15 points for The Apprentice School.
• The Builders out-rebounded Rochester 58-42 in the game.
• The Rochester bench proved to be a difference maker in the contest, as the Warrior reserves outscored the Apprentice subs 23-10.
• As a team, Rochester recorded eight steals for the game, while committing only eight turnovers.

NEXT UP

Number 1 seed Rochester advances to meet the winner of #4 Florida National and #5 Oakwood at 8:00 p.m. Thursday in the Main Arena.  The Apprentice School will face the loser of Florida National/Oakwood in a consolation match-up on Thursday at 11:15 a.m. in Maltho.