Box Score Six different Case Western Reserve University players scored in double digits, including freshman forward Sam Hansen who led all scorers with 18 points, as the Spartans won their second-consecutive game with an 88-66 win over Brandeis University on Sunday afternoon.
The win raised the Spartans' overall record to 7-15 on the year, including a 2-9 record in the University Athletic Association. Brandeis fell to 7-14 overall with a 3-8 UAA record.
Hansen came off the bench to go a perfect six-for-six from the floor, with all six attempts coming from behind the three-point line. The 18 points were a career-high for the freshman.
Senior guard Javier Alvarez came off the bench to score 14 points with five assists and a pair of steals, and junior forward T.J. Duckett picked up his nine double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Regan Mohler, freshman forward Michael Hollis and junior guard Colin Zucker each scored 10 points during the game, with Hollis also collecting a career-high eight rebounds.
As a team, the Spartans shot 54.8% (34-of-62) from the floor and 53.1% (17-of-32) on three-point attempts, both season highs. The 17 made three pointers were also a season-best for CWRU.
After a strong finish to their game against NYU on Friday, the Spartans started five freshmen in Sunday's game against Brandeis – guards Mohler, Kyle McIntosh, and Darius Inzar and forwards Connor Nally and Hollis. The group helped Case Western Reserve take an early lead in the game, with another freshman, Hansen, coming off the bench to score nine points in the first half on three-of-three shooting from behind the three point line in the first half to lead CWRU. After Brandeis sank its first two baskets of the game to take a 4-0 lead, the Spartans responded with a 16-4 run that put the team up by eight with 10:21 to play, and CWRU would never trail again in the contest. The Judges closed the gap to three points, 31-28, with 1:57 left in the half, but junior forward David Black knocked down a pair of threes late in the period to help CWRU take a seven-point lead into halftime, 37-30.
Brandeis cut the lead to as few as four with 18:05 to play in the half, but the Spartans quickly responded by building their lead back up to double-digits, using a 12-3 run to take a 51-38 lead with 13:10 to play in the half. Alvarez paced CWRU, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second half of the game, as the team shot a blistering 58.8% from the floor over the final 20 minutes. Case Western Reserve led by as many as 22 points in the second half on multiple occasions, including after a three pointer by Hollis with 58 seconds left set the score at 88-66.
Altogether, five different freshman players combined to score 61 of the team's 88 points in the game. Meanwhile, the Spartan's bench outscored Brandeis' 63-6 in the game.
Brandeis' Robinson Vilmont led the Judges with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on Sunday.
The Spartans will be back in action next weekend for their final road games of the 2016-17 season, when the team travels to Emory University and the fourth-ranked University of Rochester. CWRU will start the weekend against Emory on Friday, February 17th at 8:00 p.m. in Atlanta.
