Men’s basketball extends win streak to four

Paola Van der Linden Costello Staff Writer

The Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball team faced Brandeis University on Feb. 3 and New York University on Feb. 5 in the Horsburgh Gymnasium for a rematch after the Spartans claimed two road wins against these teams last weekend. Given the competitive nature of the UAA conference this season, a win for the Spartans was imperative to stay in the run for making the tournament.

Spartie and Spartan Cheer made an appearance on Friday night for this exciting game. The Hidden Opponent was also featured, prompting the spectators to wear green to bring awareness for mental health in student athletes

If the Spartans walked over the Judges in their away game, they trampled them at this home game, winning by 28 points and scoring a season high in the 101-73 victory. This was also the first time the Spartans scored over 100 points in the UAA conference since 1997 and the fifth time in all of CWRU’s history. Fourth-year forward Cole Frilling led the team with 16 points, third-year forward Ian Elam with 9 rebounds and graduate student guard Danny Frauenheim with 9 assists. CWRU shot 56.6% overall and 48.3% from the 3-point range.

CWRU took the lead with 18:24 left in the first half after graduate student guard Mitch Prendergast made a 3-pointer and never looked back. Even with CWRU’s complete domination, this game was far from boring. They kept the audience engaged with exhilarating play and intoxicating energy on both sides of the court. Similar to the last time CWRU faced Brandeis, the game appeared to be a close one, with the Judges only trailing two points with 10:28 left in the first half. While last time CWRU dominated the game with their 3-point jump shots, Brandeis’ aggressive defensive strategy was proving effective this time, with the Spartans shooting just 3-4 from the 3-point range at this point in the game.

After Elam had a defensive rebound and made a layup, the Spartans were up by four, a lead that would continue to grow with the remainder of the first half. Second-year guard Sam Trunley led the scoring barrage in the first half, making several 3-pointers. With one second left, his last shot gave the Spartans a 15 point lead at the end of the first half. Frauenheim led this half with 7 assists and Elam with 8 rebounds, both key to the Spartan’s success.

The second half was much worse for the Judges as they got penalized for their aggressive play, incurring six fouls and a technical within the first 2:22 minutes of the third quarter. The Spartans took advantage of this, converting 9 points from their mistakes. Third-year guard Luke Thorburn capped an 11-0 run for the Spartans with his layup.

In the final 12 minutes of the game, second-year forward Umar Rashid made 5 points after being fouled at the 3-point line and converting an offensive rebound that got him a layup. Rashid has been crucial for CWRU’s defense play, notching 3 blocks for the game and having a team high of 36 total blocks this season, 20 within conference play. “When it comes to blocking shots, I really just try to use my length and athletic ability to their full potential to make plays that’ll help our guys out,” says Rashid.

“Sometimes when the timing is perfect it feels like I’m playing volleyball and I know the crowd loves seeing me spike an opponent’s shot.”

With 10:22 left in the game, CWRU took the largest lead of the night of 33 points in one of the most exciting plays of the night. In a threeman effort, Rashid blocked the ball and Florey made a beautiful pass to set up Trunley to make an exhilarating dunk. Trunley reflected, “Finally dunking in a college game was a cool experience, but it was just a small part of an outstanding team effort.”

When the audience thought the game could not get any better than that last play, first-year forward Adam Miller dunked the ball with 1:25 left in the game. This play was followed by a layup by second-year guard Lucas Ortiz and a steal that led to a 3-point jump shot by Miller, giving the Spartans a 7-0 run and ultimately the win.

The game against NYU also kept CWRU fans at the edge of their seats but for different reasons. The Violets and Spartans had a nerve-racking game that was extremely close up to the very last seconds. A key block by Elam with 15 seconds left in the game and four free throws by Rashid and Prendergast ultimately gave the Spartans the win 96-92. Frilling once again led the team with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Frauenheim led with 8 assists. The Spartans shot 60.3% (35-58) from the field goal range and 47.6% (10-21) from the 3-point line.

The Spartans took the first lead of the night after NYU missed a layup and Frauenheim converted a defensive rebound into two points after a layup. The Violets took their first lead of the night with 14:01 left in the first half and their largest lead of the night of five points with 2:52 remaining. However, Frauenheim tied the game after making two free throws and Prendergast had a buzzer-beater layup that had CWRU up by two by the end of the first half.

Frauenheim made a layup with 14:39 remaining which allowed him to reach 1,000 career points and gave the Spartans a 10-point lead. This includes his first three seasons of collegiate basketball at Susquehanna. This was followed by another five points from Frauenheim, including a 3-point jump with 13:08 left in the game that gave the Spartans their largest lead of the night of 12 points.

Despite a significant lead by the Spartans, The Violets kept fighting, managing to tie the game at 9090 with 44 seconds left. You could feel the tension in the audience, but CWRU was able to maintain their composure and made 8-8 free throws which ultimately led to their second win of the weekend.

Elam discussed how he was able to complete the block that saved the game: “One of my coaches had noticed that they practiced that play when they warmed up, and so when I noticed they ran it I was ready.”

After Emory University lost against Washington University in St. Louis this weekend, CWRU moved up to second place in the UAA standings. They will be playing the University of Rochester and Emory in their last home games on Friday, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 11 at 11:00 a.m. respectively. After two hard losses against these teams in their away games, CWRU hopes to make a comeback and be one step closer to winning the UAA conference.

Paola Van der Linden Costello Staff Writer

The Case Western Reserve University women’s basketball team secured a win against Brandeis University, their second of the season, on Feb. 3 (86-67) but suffered a devastating loss against against No. 7 New York University on Feb. 5 (82-44), leaving them with an overall 13-7 record, 4-5 conference record and No. 6 ranking in the UAA.

Against Brandeis, third-year guard

Margaret Terry and third-year forward

Kayla Characklis led the game with 16 points, fourth-year forward/guard

Isabella Mills had 8 rebounds and Terry had 6 assists. The team shot 2565 (36.9%) from the field and 13-32 (40.6%) from the 3-point range.

The Judges had their largest lead of the night in the first quarter when they first scored a 3-point jump shot to open the game. First-year guard/forward Emily Plachta closed the gap immediately, tying the game with a 3-pointer of her own. Third-year guard Sarah Mitchell made a layup and got fouled, converting three points to give the Spartans the lead. Despite the Judges’ efforts, they only managed to tie the game twice more but never took the lead. The Spartans held the 20-15 lead at the end of the first quarter following a layup from Terry.

The Spartans also won the second quarter, finishing the half with a 16-point lead. A defensive rebound by freshman guard Maya Roberts with two seconds left prevented Brandeis from getting any closer to CWRU. During the halftime, CWRU recog- nized the 50th anniversary of Title IX in women’s sports.

Up 48-32, the Spartans increased their lead by 30 points with a layup by second-year guard Nyah Moore, a jumper from third-year forward/center Preet Gill, a 3-pointer by second-year guard/forward Lucy Vanderbeck, and more. The Spartans took their largest lead of the night at 76-48 with 1:40 remaining in the third quarter after Vanderbeck’s shot. The Judges made a small push to end the quarter, cutting their deficit to 53-78.

In the fourth quarter, CWRU maintained great ball movement and coordination on the court. Fourth-year guard Claire Poulton scored five points and Vanderbeck scored three, ending the game with the Spartans on the top 86-67.

The story was very different when the Spartans faced the Violets on Sunday afternoon. What started as a close game quickly turned into an uphill battle for the Spartans, one they could not recover from. Mills led the team with 11 points and Mitchell with 3 assists. Overall, the team shot 29.3% from the field and 21.7% from the 3-point line compared to NYU’s 38.9% and 52.2% respectively.

In the previous match against the Violets, the Spartans put up a good fight, staying ahead in the first three quarters only to lose the lead in the fourth quarter. In this game, they lost the lead after NYU made a layup with 6:46 left in the first quarter and were not able to catch up after that.

Despite only being down by four by the end of the first quarter, the Violets kept the pressure on the Spartans, who found themselves down by 20 by the half, 33 at the end of the third quarter and ultimately 38 at the end of the game for a final score of 82-44. Averaging 70.8 points per game, this was

CWRU’s lowest scoring game of the season.

The Spartans will face the University of Rochester on Friday, Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m. and Emory University on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 1:00 p.m. in the Horsburgh Gymnasium for their final two home games of the season.