The Observer, February 22, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 18
Adelbert Agony: Men's basketball falls in final seconds to No. 7 WashU
The pageantry and excitement of Throwback Weekend last Friday and Sunday took a back seat to heartbreak and anguish. The Case men's basketball team came the closest it has been all season to picking up their first University Athletic Association victory last Friday, losing by three points in the last minute of play. That performance was followed by a 28-point drubbing of the Spartans by a University of Chicago team they played much closer in an earlier contest this year.
On Friday, the Spartans donned the Western Reserve Red Cats jerseys and played inspired basketball for 39 straight minutes. Playing the No.7- ranked Washington University, Case was poised to cause one of the biggest upsets in Div. III college basketball this year.
The Spartans started the game by shooting the lights out. In the first half they shot 55.2 percent from the floor and an outstanding 57.1 percent from three-point range.
While Kevin Herring failed to score any more than his 11 first half points, Steve Young and Colin Mulholland continued to show a hot hand in the second half, adding eight and nine points to their point totals, respectively. Mulholland ended the game with 17 total points and went 5-8 behind the arc, his best performance of the year by far.
Unfortunately, the performance was all for naugt. Holding on to a two-point lead with only 19 seconds left in the game, Brandon Bradford fouled Washington's Troy Ruth, sending him to the free throw line where he would put the Bears within one point. On the ensuing inbound, Alex Hildebrandt threw an errant pass which was picked off by Ruths. The Spartans then fouled Ruths again, sending him to the line to put Washington in front this time. After a missed jumper by Steve Young, the Spartans were forced to foul and sent the Bear's Aaron Thompson to the charity stripe where he would give his team a three point lead and seal their comeback victory. Head coach Sean McDonnell spoke about the last offensive possession for the Spartans after the game. "It was the exact shot we wanted," said McDonnell. "It was a perfect inbound and Steve got a clean look. I thought it was going in."
Sunday's performance was just ugly all-around for the Spartans. The team gave up 14 turnovers leading to 20 of Chicago's 84 points. In addition, they had trouble shooting, mustering only 39 percent from the field. The one bright spot was Case's inside play. The Spartans came up big in the paint, outscoring Chicago 34-28. Mason Conrad's 18-point performance plus Anthony Durr and Eric Duerrs' 10-point performances were the best all three have had in a couple of games.
The team will face their last road trip this coming weekend as they play No. 14 University of Rochester on Friday and then Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday. The first game tips off at 8 p.m. Friday evening, and the second at noon Sunday.
