The Aquinas men's basketball team falls to Rochester in a WHAC road match-up on Thursday evening (Jan. 6) in Rochester Hills, Michigan. After facing a 13-point deficit at halftime, the Saints nearly pulled out a road win over the Warriors by only being down by two with nine seconds remaining, but ultimately fell short 65-61.

AQ now has a record of 10-7 on the season and a 4-4 WHAC, while RU improves its record to 12-6 on the year and 5-3 in the conference.

It was the Saints who held an early five point lead on the Warriors, with the scoreboard reading 10-5 at the 15:23 mark. The Warriors then went on a 22-7 run to claim a 10 point lead with 6:01 remaining in the first half. RU stretched its lead out to as much as 16 and ultimately held a 13-point lead at the half. 

Aquinas started chipping away, shrinking the deficit to nine within the first three minutes of the second half. Rochester responded with nine straight points to lead 48-30 at the 14:31 mark. The Saints did not go away quietly, scoring the next 15 of 19 points between the two teams and cutting the lead to seven with 9:30 remaining. The Warriors got the lead back up to double digits as the teams exchanged buckets over the next five minutes. Aquinas went on another 11-3 run to climb within two with nine seconds left on the clock. However, Rochester made its last two free throws and took home the four point win.

Aquinas shot the ball at a 44.2% clip after making 23-52 baskets, including 8-13 from downtown and 7-11 from the charity stripe. Rochester went 23-60 from the floor for a 38.3% shooting percentage, including 6-28 from three-point land and 13-23 from the free throw line.

Sammie Ryans finished with 17 points to go along with his four rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Jaylen Rutherford came off the bench for his first game in 33 days and scored 10 points, while dishing out a team high three assists and collecting two steals and a rebound. Gabe Overway was the third AQ player in double figures, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds. 

Trevor Ballard (9), Menalito McGee (7), Jesse Hillis (5), and Jared Dugener (3) rounded out the scoring for the Saints.

Rochester posted more rebounds (33-27), assists (15-8), blocks (2-0), and steals (10-7) than Aquinas.

The Saints will hit the road again on Saturday (Jan. 8) to face Siena Heights in Adrian, Michigan, with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 PM.