CLEVELAND, Ohio – Sophomore forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, MI/Brother Rice) poured in a career-high 34 points to lead the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team, but it wasn't enough as the Spartans fell 95-85 to No. 22 University of Rochester (NY) on Sunday, February 20 at Horsburgh Gymnasium.

With the loss, the Spartans drop to 8-16 overall and 4-9 in University Athletic Association play. Rochester improves to 20-4 and remains in first place in the UAA at 12-1.

Fowler was scorching in the first-half, scoring 19 on 7-of-12 shooting, including 3-for-3 from three-point range, and so were the rest of his teammates. The Spartans hit on 17-of-32 (53.1 percent) and 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) of their three point attempts. Freshman guard Mark Bentley (Downers Grove, IL/South) chipped in with a career-high 17 minutes and eight points off the bench.

Rochester was paced by John DiBartolomeo's 26-point, 11 assist performance, including a perfect 10-of-10 mark from the foul line. Nate Novosel added 19 to supplement the Yellowjacket offense.

The Spartans jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first 6:41, capped by a three-pointer by Fowler. Rochester then whittled the lead back down to four, at 22-18, with a 10-4 run over the next 1:59. Fowler answered the Yellowjacket spurt with five straight points on a back-to-back jumper and trey to push the Case advantage back to nine with 9:09 to play. DiBartolomeo followed with a pair of free throws before freshman guard Tim Chung (Cypress, CA/Los Alamitos) canned a three with 8:42 on the clock to make the Spartan lead 10, at 30-20. Case pushed its lead to a game-high 11, at 39-28, on a free throw by freshman center David Thompson (Plano, TX/Plano Senior). Rochester managed to trim another seven off the Spartan lead, however, going into the locker room on a Chris Dende three, which made the score 47-43 at the half.

Freshman guard Mike Byrne (Newton, PA/Holy Ghost) kept the Spartans hot early out of the locker room, hitting a triple just 19 seconds into the second stanza, but the Yellowjackets kept pace and tied the game up for the first time, at 53-53, on a three by David Gould with 16:56 on the clock. Rochester opened up its first lead of the afternoon, 54-53, just 35 seconds later on a made free throw by Nate Novosel. The Yellowjackets then pushed the lead as high as 12, with 5:01 to play on a layup by Nate Novosel. Case would get no closer than seven the rest of the way, as Rochester closed out the 95-85 win.  

The Spartans will close the season on Saturday, Feb. 26, versus Carnegie Mellon University (PA) at Horsburgh Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.