The Observer, November 30, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 12
Men's basketball blows out Oberlin
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After being defeated little under a year earlier by a rival Oberlin team, Case Western Reserve roared out of the tip-off Nov. 27, exacting revenge by winning 88-51 in Veale Center.
"It feels pretty good. We put up an old article from the last Oberlin game over our locker room door and that really motivated us today. Last year was not a good game and allowed us to go into today maybe with a bit of revenge," said senior Mason Conrad.
Tuesday's fast-paced game included a sizable 41 points off turnovers, 16 of them fast breaks. The Spartans combined for 15 steals in the 40 minutes of play; junior Steve Young led the team with four.
"Normally there's not that many [steals]. We were just on tonight and we turned up the defensive tempo which by itself turned into a lot of buckets on the offensive end," said senior Brandon Bradford.
In just 16 minutes of play, Young managed 18 points with four treys. After leading the half 49-19, the Spartans turned to their deep bench to close out the game. Coming off the bench freshman Greg Beretta came up with three steals and junior Brad Sutton battled for nine points.
"We have several upperclassmen that are critical to our game right now. That being said, we have some younger guys making a contribution; we have a sophomore and a freshman starting tonight. We like our balance," said varsity men's basketball coach Sean McDonnell.
Not only dominating the transition game, the Spartans had the clear advantage in the paint. In the first half, Oberlin's center and forward only managed six shots while Case dropped in 12 points from close-quarters.
"We sort of expected to be a little bigger than them, especially from seeing the tapes. Turning that fact into an offensive and defensive advantage was huge for us," said Conrad.
The weekend of Nov. 24-25, Case participated in the Bill Sudeck Holiday Tournament, winning both games. In the finals the Spartans slipped by Catholic University ,74-70.
"It was kind of a statement. They came into the tournament wanting to beat a UAA team. We knew that year-in and year-out they have a good program and it would be tough. We came out with that extra energy and made the statement by going out and beating them," said Bradford.
Mason, Sutton, Young, and junior Kevin Herring all paced the Spartans with double-digit scoring. Leaving the first half with a comfortable 43-34 lead, Case turned on the afterburners in the final six minutes after Danny Quinn of Catholic University cut the Spartan's lead to one. Before fouling out in the last fewminutes, Mason scored the 1000th point of his college career on a lay-up with 5:54 left in the game.
"Last year they were 23-6 and made the NCAA Tournament winning it in 2001. Every year they bring a strong program, you have to give them their credit," said McDonnell.
The Spartans played Baldwin-Wallace on Thursday after presstime and will play Denison at home on Dec. 1.
"They (Baldwin-Wallace) are supposed to be the best game we've played so far; I'm looking forward to it," said Bradford.
