With half a new roster, the Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball team began its 2024-25 season with a promising start: winning the Bill Sudeck Tournament for the third consecutive year with an opening-night blowout victory against Penn State Altoona and a thrilling double-overtime 101-99 win over SUNY Brockport in the championship match.
“The result of the weekend is what we’re looking for. Two wins, zero losses,” fourth-year guard, co-captain and tournament MVP Sam Trunley said.
Coming onto the court, the Spartans’ weeks of practice and the new team dynamics were put to the test and proved to be a solid start for the squad.
During the match against Altoona, the Spartans led most of the night, only allowing the Lions to tie at the 14 point mark and take a short-lived lead. Following Altoona’s 17-16 lead, the Spartans went on a 16-4 run to gain the first double-digit advantage of the night, which kept growing as the Spartans went 53-34 going into halftime. CWRU’s lead increased to as large as 34, and the Spartans coasted to their first blowout victory.
“It’s gonna take us some time to get to play how exactly we want to, but for how we played tonight, I’m very happy,” fourth-year forward and co-captain Umar Rashid said.
The game was also a great opportunity for the team with 13 members of the squad seeing time off the bench. The Spartans saw a strong offense, with 48.7% from the field and 40.0% from beyond the arc.
During Saturday’s championship match, the name of the game was endurance. The Spartan starters—Trunley, Rashid and graduate students Wade Jackson, Andy Barba and Nicholas Schiavello, netted all but 5 points in the game, with Trunley, Jackson and Rashid all playing over 40 minutes.
“I think we sort of took them a little lighter than we should. I mean, we’ve won the Sudeck the last three years. So we’re kind of like, ‘ah, it’s a given that this is going to happen.’ I give SUNY Brockport a lot of credit. They came and showed up to play. We have guys that are coming off injuries, some of our grad transfers, who have come down from higher levels, haven’t really played much in a long time, so it’s sort of all gelling together. And that’s definitely a challenge,” Trunley said. “Learning that on the fly and running into a good team like Brockport, that’s a really great experience.”
The biggest moment of the game came from Rashid’s final tiebreaking layup during the last moments of the second overtime, securing their win 101-99.
“Seeing Umar make that final shot, [there was an] overwhelming sense of relief for me. That game, for me, was so stressful. I felt like nothing was falling our way. When they hit that game tying shot in the first overtime, we were sort of running out of steam. Just seeing him hit that shot, for me, that was the biggest moment. Just that overwhelming sense of ‘this game is finally gonna be over.’ While I can look back at it now and say that I really enjoyed it, in the moment, it was so mentally and physically taxing and so stressful. I can enjoy it now and it was a really awesome and cool experience. I wouldn’t say it was fun in the moment,” he said.
As the season progresses, fans are sure to see great play from the team, especially with the camaraderie between the two co-captains, Trunley and Rashid, who have spent the past four years growing together.
“I give myself and Umar a lot of credit, we’re two guys that have really stuck it out and made it work. Neither of us played very much our freshman year, but [we] found roles our sophomore year and have continued to grow as players and people throughout this four year experience,” Trunley said.
Rashid shares the sentiment that the two will be a strong force leading the team.
“It’s a unique experience for myself and No. 10, Sam Trunley. We’ve been the constant players throughout the last four years. There’s been new guys every single year, so we’re used to having to adjust to new teams. We just understand it’s gonna take us some time to gel. But then once we hit second semester and we’re playing UAA play, we think we’ll be alright,” he said. “We’re just confident in our team. And we’re sure we’ll gain the national recognition.”
The Spartans will be on the road for the next three contests, beginning with a game against Houghton University this Saturday, Nov. 16. Tipoff begins at 4 p.m.