With 6.6 seconds remaining in overtime and the game tied at 87, senior forward Ryan Newton connected on a go-ahead three-pointer to give the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team its first ever postseason victory on Friday night, 91-87, over the University of Dubuque in the First Round of the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

CWRU (19-6) will continue its historic season inside the Kolf Sports Center in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on Saturday night at 8:15 p.m. ET, facing off against the winner of the game between #3 UW-Oshkosh and Blackburn in the second round. Dubuque ends its season with a 21-7 record. The 19 CWRU wins are the most in program history.

On the game-winning possession, sophomore guard Luke Thorburn collected a clutch offensive rebound following a miss from Newton. He passed it back to the senior for the open three. Thorburn tied a career-high with six rebounds and set a new career best with three assists, including the one on the final basket. Graduate student forward Brian Hines clinched the victory with a free throw after Dubuque could not convert from the charity stripe following the go-ahead three-pointer.

Newton's three-pointer was not his only clutch shot of the game. With 12.8 seconds remaining in regulation, he made a pair of free throws to tie the score at 81 and send the game into overtime. On the previous possession, Case Western Reserve, down 81-79, forced a key stop, blocking two consecutive shots and forcing a shot-clock violation. CWRU finished with 15 blocks, the most by a Spartan team since at least the 2001-02 season. Newton blocked five shots, and Hines and junior forward Cole Frilling each had four blocks.  

Frilling opened the overtime period with a layup to give CWRU its first lead since the first half. With 3:17 left in overtime, Dubuque's Peter Ragen drained a three-pointer to give his team the lead, and, with 1:42 left, he connected once from the charity stripe to put Case Western Reserve down two, 87-85. Dubuque would not score again, and Newton made a jumper to tie the game at 87 with 1:16 remaining. CWRU followed with another defensive stop to set up Newton's heroics.

For the second straight game, Case Western Reserve rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit. Dubuque used a 15-3 run over the final four minutes of the first half to lead 49-38 at the break.

Case Western Reserve, after trailing by 13 points with 13 minutes left in regulation, cut the deficit to four, 65-61, midway through the second half on a fast break dunk from Newton. The dunk capped a 9-0 CWRU run. Dubuque pushed the advantage to seven with 5:37 remaining in regulation, 74-67. After the teams traded three-pointers, graduate student guard Griffin Kornaker made it a two-possession game, 77-73, with 4:47 left in regulation.

Senior guard Robert Faller followed with a layup with 3:39 remaining in regulation to cut the deficit to two. Dubuque expanded the lead to four points with 1:43 left on the clock, but Frilling nailed a pair of free throws with 1:26 left in regulation to put the score at 81-79, setting up the dramatic finish.

Six Case Western Reserve players scored in double figures. Frilling had a team-high 19 points, while Newton and graduate student guard Mitch Prendergast each added 17 points. Sophomore forward Hunter Drenth finished with 14 points, and Hines and Kornaker each scored 10 points.

Frilling and Newton secured a team-high seven rebounds. Drenth and Hines added five boards each, while Kornaker finished with at team-high six assists.