In the 30th annual Lopata Classic, the No. 11 Washington University men’s basketball team won a pair of home games over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Whitman College to improve to 4-0 on the season.

On Friday night, the Bears rallied for a 94-74 victory over Rose-Hulman (0-1) in a fast-paced offensive contest. Rose-Hulman held a 50-46 at halftime, due in part to 9-of-15 three-point shooting. In the second half, the Bears were fueled by a 15-0 run to take a commanding 84-65 lead. Defensively, the Red and Green limited Rose-Hulman to 24 points in the second half. Senior point guard Alan Aboona felt that the team’s defense improved because of an increased familiarity with Rose-Hulman’s offense.

“Rose-Hulman runs a pretty complex offense,” Aboona said. “It was really tough to simulate in practice all week because they are so knowledgeable about how they run their own offense, so once we got a feel for it in the first half, we made adjustments at halftime and really clamped down on them.”

Head coach Mark Edwards made specific adjustments at halftime, including limiting Rose-Hulman’s cuts to the basket, which resulted in fewer three-point opportunities.

“I think that the perimeter defense improved because they couldn’t get their cuts,” Edwards said. “The reason it looked like they were wide open standing out there is because we had to help out so much. We had to leave our man and go help out on somebody that was getting beat on a cut and we couldn’t get back out there on time.”

For the game, the Bears shot a season-high 60.3 percent from the field and only had nine turnovers. Aboona had a double-double with 18 points and 12 assists, and the Bears had 31 assists on 35 baskets.

“Our offense is predicated on facilitating the basketball…When we move the ball and we look for the extra pass like we did today then we are pretty tough to beat,” Aboona said.

Additionally, senior forward Chris Klimek added 26 points and eight rebounds, helping the Bears enjoy a 60-20 advantage on points in the paint. All five starters scored in double figures for Wash. U., and Edwards pointed to the team’s defense as a contributing factor.

“Our defense is the name of the game,” Edwards said. “The fact that we had so many people with even scoring shows that we played good defense and that we can come right back at them and make good decisions.”

In the second game of the Lopata Classic, Wash. U. survived a scare from Whitman College (0-3) for a 76-68 win. The Bears led 44-37 at halftime and never had a lead larger than 10. Even though it was a close game, the Bears were still in control throughout. After trailing 6-5 early, the Bears never relinquished the lead. The Red and Green shot 9-of-19 on three-pointers, but struggled to 13-of-28 free throw shooting. Junior forward Nick Burt tallied 12 points and five rebounds, and once again the Bears had a big offensive effort from Aboona (19 points), who was named the Robert L. Burnes Most Valuable Player award for the second year in a row in the Lopata Classic.