The Case Western Reserve University men's basketball made its long-awaited season debut on Saturday night, but came up short against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, falling 88-74 to the Blugolds in the Sudeck Tournament in Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland, Ohio.

With the loss, the Spartans, now 0-1, will play St. John Fisher in the consolation game of the tournament on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Cardinals fell to Ohio Northern 72-65 in the first game of the Sudeck Tournament on Saturday.

The Blugolds, 1-0, will take on Ohio Northern for the Sudeck Championship at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Junior forward Cole Frilling led all Spartans with 17 points on a six-of-13 shooting effort, adding three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Making his CWRU debut, graduate student guard Mitch Prendergast filled up the box score with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals. Also playing in his first game as a Spartan, graduate student Griffin Kornaker led the team with six assists.

The Spartans trailed by as many as eight points in the opening minutes of the game, as the Blugolds opened the contest shooting well from the floor. However, CWRU rallied back, turning an 11-3 deficit with 15:59 left in the opening half to a 15-13 lead with 12:38 left on sophomore forward Hunter Drenth's second three-pointer of the run. Wisconsin-Eau Claire would recover, regaining an eight-point advantage 35-27 with 4:24 left in the first half, before an 8-2 run by the Spartans, capped off by a steal and a layup by Prendergast, trimmed the advantage to 37-35 with 1:28 remaining on the clock. The Blugolds scored the final three points of the half and took a 40-35 edge into the halftime break.

Wisconsin-Eau Claire continued to build their lead, quickly expanding their advantage to double digits in the first minute of the second half and would not lead by less than 10 for the final 18 minutes of the game.

The Blugolds had a hot shooting performance on the day, hitting 55.2% of their shots overall and 56.0% from three-point range, while the Spartans struggled to find their touch, connecting on just 37.3% overall and 32.1% from behind the arc.

Action at the Sudeck Tournament will conclude on Sunday.