While most students were relaxing at home or off on family vacations, the men’s basketball team returned to Washington University early to continue its season. After an out-of-conference win over Benedictine University, the Bears (6-8, 0-3 University Athletic Association) lost each of their next four contests by six points or fewer.

In their most recent game, the Bears fell to the University of Rochester 86-80 on Jan. 16. In the first few minutes of the game, the Bears and the Yellowjackets appeared even; however, with 11 minutes left in the half, Rochester pulled away.

A 17-4 Yellowjackets run pushed the score to 21-10.

“We came out really flat and didn’t have much intensity,” senior co-captain Caleb Knepper said.

Rochester continued to hit shots and played strong man-to-man defense, preventing the Bears from scoring. The Yellowjackets led by as much as 21 points in the first half and entered the break with a 41-26 lead.

However, in the second half, the Bears clawed their way out of an 18-point deficit, cutting the lead down to two points with 11:10 left in the game.

Wash. U.’s run began when sophomore Ben Hoener brought the ball down and passed to junior co-captain Dylan Richter. Richter swung it to junior co-captain Alex Toth, who hit a lay-up with 18:25 remaining in regulation.

“If we put together a full game instead of 10 minutes stretches, we can compete with anyone we play,” Richter said. Within the next three-minute stretch, he nailed two three-pointers and a layup.

The Bears continued to press the Yellowjackets’ lead with baskets from senior co-captain Spencer Gay, freshman Tim Cooney and Richter, but Rochester’s Nate Vernon and Mike Labanowski stopped the bleeding, each making a three-pointer.

Rochester made 12 foul shots in the last 1:43, and while freshman Alan Aboona sunk two triples and Hoener and Richter each made a three, the Bears could not complete the comeback.

“We dug ourselves a little hole, which is probably the biggest thing that hurt us,” Richter said. “We had a good comeback, but we don’t want it to get to that.”

Three-pointers again decided the outcome of the Bears game against Emory University on Jan. 14. Even though Richter scored a career-high 25 points, the Eagles sunk 12 three-pointers, eight in the second half, to take the win by one point, 69-68.

Emory played a fast-paced game, which resulted in nine turnovers for Wash. U. in the first half. However, after a 15-3 run, including six points from Richter, the Red and Green led 39-31 at halftime.

“It was a fast-paced [game]; that’s their style, but I thought we handled it pretty well,” head coach Mark Edwards said.

On a three-pointer from Richter, the Bears took a 14-point lead to start the second half; the lead did not last long, however. The Eagles made four three-pointers to cut the lead to five by the 12:30 mark. Emory’s Alex Gulotta then hit three straight three-pointers to turn a two-point Wash. U. lead into a seven-point Emory lead with 4:39 remaining.

“That is a trend we have been having, in the Emory game,” Richter said. “We will get ourselves a good lead and then for whatever reason, we will drop our intensity and let the other team catch up.”

The Bears attempted to come back late, with a layup from Hoener and a three-pointer from Knepper with 2.6 seconds left, but again fell short.

“When you lose by one, you can’t be too pleased, but it was a great game,” Edwards said.

In the Bear’s UAA opener against the University of Chicago, the team suffered a 79-77 loss on Jan. 8. Four days later, the Red and Green dropped its sixth straight road contest, falling to Webster University, 61-58. The Bears shot just 1-of-16 from three-point range, while Webster shot 6-of-10 from behind the arc.

“We would like them all to be wins, and it’s disappointing to have the outcomes we have had recently,” Richter said. “But the silver lining is they have all been close games.”

The team’s only win of the break came against Benedictine on Jan. 4. Cooney recorded his first career double-double, with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.

The Bears will hit the road this weekend, facing New York University on Friday at 8 p.m. EST and No. 21 Brandeis University on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. EST.

“It’s always important to pick up where we left off. We left the first semester on a sweet note, and I wanted to pick up from there and keep going,” Edwards said. “But we ran into a little snag, and now we are fighting against teams who are coming out on top.”