Fitchburg State Falls To Rochester, 91-86

Henneberry paces Falcons with a team-high 33 points in NCAA Championships

FITCHBURG, Mass. (March 2, 2013) – The Fitchburg State men's basketball team battled the Yellow Jackets of the University of Rochester this evening, falling 91-86 in first round action of the 2013 NCAA Division III men's basketball championships.

The University of Rochester (21-4) advances to second round action of the NCAA Division III men's basketball championships and takes on the winner of Ithaca and Springfield College, while Fitchburg State concludes the 2012-13 season with an overall record of 16-11.

Both teams opened the contest strongly, taking a 48-48 deadlock into the locker room after 20 minutes of play. Behind a 20-point effort from senior Tom Henneberry (Lexington, Mass./Lexington), Fitchburg State held four point advantage with just under two minutes remaining in the stanza, but Rochester rallied back, using a pair of free-throws from senior John DiBartelemeo (Westport, Conn./Staples) and a Kevin Sheehy (Syosset, N.Y./Chaminade) jumper to close the gap.

Over the first nine minutes of play, Rochester held a slim 22-20 margin as dropped 12 of the Falcons first 20 points. The senior forward shot 4-of-5 from the field in the run, while freshman Zach Pope (Orlando, Fla./OCP) added five points in the surge. The Falcons took their first lead of the contest moments later as junior Mike Ingram-Rubin (Boston, Mass./Bedford) connected with back-to-back threes for a 32-30 advantage, but a pair of DiBartelemeo free-throws knotted the score again at 32-32.

In the second half, Fitchburg State came out strong and opened a 57-51 advantage with a pair of buckets from Jeremy Kimber (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) and a three-point play from Henneberry. But the Yellow Jackets rallied back yet again using seven consecutive points form DiBartelemeo to knot the score at 61-61.

Midway through the second period, Rochester opened up a four-point margin (71-67) following a DiBartelemeo trey at the 9:40 mark and later increased its lead to seven (82-75) on a Nate Vernon (Chapel Hill, N.C./Carolina Friends) three with 5:20 remaining. The Falcons inched back within four on a pair of Zach Valliere (Douglas, Mass./Douglas) free-throws, but were then limited to just three field goals over the final four minutes as the Yellow Jackets secured the victory.

Henneberry led the Falcons offensively, hitting a team-high 33 points with an impressive 11-of-21 shooting from the field, while Ingram-Rubin and Valliere added 16 points apiece. DiBartelemeo led all offensive scorers with a game-best 42 points, hitting 11-of-27 from the field and 17-of-22 from the charity stripe. Vernon and Rob Reid (Mount Airy, N.C./Phillips Exeter) were the only other Yellow Jackets in double-figures with 16 points and 13 points respectively.