Entering this past weekend with just five games remaining in the regular season, the Washington University men’s basketball team couldn’t afford any more miscues in order to keep its playoff hopes alive.

Two road losses, a 92-67 defeat at the hands of Emory University and an 83-78 loss to the University of Rochester dropped the team to 11-11 (5-6 UAA) and likely out of playoff contention.

The Bears suffered their second loss of the weekend last Sunday at No. 22 Rochester. Senior co-captains Caleb Knepper and Spencer Gay led the Red and Green with six points each early in the first half, taking a 14-4 advantage at the 14:21 mark.

Minutes later, Knepper’s 3-pointer extended the lead to 21-6.

“The beginning of the game, we pushed the ball a lot more, and they had trouble keeping up with our intensity,” Knepper said.

The Bears started the game shooting nine of 14 from the field while limiting the Yellowjackets to just two of eight. However, Rochester sank five 3-pointers over the final 12 minutes of the half to cut the Bears’ halftime lead to just 38-35.

Gay led all scorers with 16 points in the first half, while Knepper added 12 points from four three-pointers.

“It [was a] great basketball game; we came out really fast and took a 15-point lead and hung on for the first half,” head coach Mark Edwards said.

A little more than three minutes into the second half, Rochester took its first lead of the game off a 3-pointer. Sophomore Ben Hoener answered with a triple of his own to tie the game at 45 and spark a 10-2 Wash. U. run over the next four minutes.

Rochester responded with a 14-5 run to take a 61-60 lead.

“In the second half, [Rochester] came out really strong and broke our back and then nip and tuck all the way down to the end,” Edwards said.

Junior captain Dylan Richter and freshman Tim Cooney’s 3-pointers helped even the game, but Rochester went on a 7-0 run with 2:30 to play.

“They fought back on their own court and got back into it and took the lead,” Knepper said. “We couldn’t get back the momentum we had in the first half.”

Gay scored a team-high 21 points, and Richter added 20 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

“Spencer had a really nice game for us, hit some big shots,” Knepper said.

Emory jumped out to an 18-10 lead in the Bears’ lost last Friday. Wash. U. sank two baskets to bring the score to 18-14, but the Eagles drained four three-pointers during a 16-2 run over the next four minutes to take control of the game.

“The game really didn’t go well for us,” Knepper said. “We came out really hard, but we didn’t match their intensity. They made a couple of tough shots; they were hitting threes, and we were hitting twos.”

With five minutes left in the first half, the Bears finished an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer from sophomore Max Needle to cut the deficit to 38-26. However, Emory responded, extending the lead back to 18 points going into the second half, a lead that would seal their victory.

“We came out to play, but Emory was just clicking on all cylinders and hitting some big shots, and we couldn’t recover,” Edwards said. “They played like at team that’s contending for the championship.”

Gay led all Wash. U. scorers with 21 points and was one of four Bears to score in double figures in the game. Knepper had 12 points while Richter and junior Alex Toth chipped in 11 points apiece.

The Bears return home this weekend to face New York University on Friday at 8 p.m. and Brandeis University on Sunday at noon.