Spartans top Brandeis 56-47, NYU 71-61; move to fifth
Sophomore guard Julien Person scored 10 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds as the Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball team won its second-straight University Athletic Association game by a score of 56-47 versus Brandeis University in Sunday matinee action at Horsburgh Gymnasium.
The Spartans evened their overall record at 11-11 and improved to 4-7 in the UAA. With the loss, the Judges (16-6, 7-4 UAA) drop their fourth in seven games. The conference weekend sweep was the first for the Spartans since they beat the same two teams on Jan. 14 and 16, 2011.
The wins improved the Spartans to a fifth place tie with University of Chicago in the UAA. Case is also on the cusp of their first winning season since 2009-10 when the squad finished 14-11 overall and 6-8 in conference play.
Person’s first career double-double was accompanied by a pair of blocked shots. Senior forward Austin Fowler and sophomore forward Dane McLoughlin also scored in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
In the first half, the Judges jumped out to a 7-4 lead on a jumper from Gabriel Moton at the 17:41 mark. The lead grew to six, 10-4, via a three-point play by Youri Dascy at 15:34, but the Spartans rode seven straight from McLoughlin then took their first lead of the contest, 16-14, on a layup from Person with 9:08 left on the clock.
The Spartan lead grew to as many as 10, 26-16, when Person capped a 19-4 run with a jumper at 3:04, but the Judges cut the deficit to eight with the final bucket of the half. Overall, the Spartan defense limited Brandeis to just 26 percent on 8-of-31 shooting from the field in the opening period.
In the second half, the Spartans opened on a 10-4 run to push their lead to 14, 36-22, after two free throws from Fowler with 16:22 remaining. Brandeis came back with an 8-2 run of its own to cut the deficit to eight (38-30) with 12:20 left, but the Spartans restored order by scoring five straight to push the lead back to 13, 43-30, as sophomore guard Jordan Dean hit a wide-open three with 9:38 left to play. Case’s largest lead, 22, came after McLoughlin hit a free throw to make the score 56-34 with 2:47 left on the clock. Once the Spartans emptied the bench, Brandeis scored 12 in a row to make the final 56-47.
For the game, the Spartans held Brandeis to just 29.5% (18-of-61) shooting from the field. The Judges were led individually by Youri Dascy and Gabriel Moton with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
On Friday, Feb. 8, the Spartans topped New York University 71-61 behind Thompson’s 14 points and a career high of 13 rebounds.
In addition to Thompson’s fifth career double-double, Dean came off of the bench and recorded a career-high 10 assists. Junior guard Tim Chung scored 16 points with four three-pointers, while Fowler and sophomore forward Dane McLoughlin contributed 16 and 11 points, respectively.
For the game, the Spartans committed only six turnovers while forcing 15 for NYU.
Stockmal led all scorers with 20 points for NYU, while Yaffe and Devin Karch each tallied 12.
The Spartans leave town for the final road trip of the season beginning at Emory University on Friday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. in Atlanta. CWRU closes the trip at No. 6 University of Rochester on Sunday, Feb. 17.