The best season in the history of the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball program came to a close on Saturday night at Horsburgh Gymnasium, as the eighth-ranked Spartans fell to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 78-75 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Championships.

The Spartans finished the campaign with a 22-4 overall mark, setting a team record for wins in a season and winning the first University Athletic Association Championship in program history. CWRU earned its second-straight NCAA Tournament berth and won a game in tournament play for the second-straight season.

CWRU turned in a gritty effort, overcoming a double-figure deficit in the first half to take a lead in the second half and cutting a second one to a one-possession game by the closing seconds of the contest. However, the Warhawks were ultimately able to hold on for the victory.

Graduate student Mitch Prendergast led all CWRU players with 24 points and sophomore forward Umar Rashid came off the bench to score 18. Junior guard Luke Thorburn and sophomore guard Sam Trunley each added 10 points, and graduate student guard Danny Frauenheim dished out 10 assists, ending his season with a program-record 184 helpers, and senior forward Cole Frilling added nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

The game was close for most of the first half, but with the score tied at 23-23 with 8:32 to play in the period, the Warhawks launched on a 13-2 run to go up 11 by the 2:32 mark, 37-26. However, back-to-back threes by Trunley and Rashid helped CWRU cut Wisconsin-Whitewater's lead to four, 38-34 heading into halftime.

CWRU was finally able to pull even at 52-52 on a three by Prendergast with 12:22 to play and took the lead on the next possession on a Prendergast layup. However, the Spartans' next basket did not come until the 7:05 mark, allowing a 12-0 run by Whitewater to give the Warhawks a 64-54 lead. CWRU answered with a 9-0 run to get back within a point, 64-63, with 5:47 to go after a three-pointer by Rashid. Whitewater's lead expanded to as many as eight points down the stretch and the Warhawks led by seven, 77-70, with 37 seconds left to play.

The Spartans refused to go away quietly. Trunley connected on a three-pointer to trim the advantage to four, 77-73, with 27 seconds remaining. Rashid then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and laid it in to make it a two-point contest. CWRU followed with a foul, and Whitewater made one of the two shots to give the Spartans the ball back with 16 seconds left down three, 78-75. Prendergast missed a three with eight seconds left, but an offensive rebound with eight seconds left gave CWRU one final shot, but Prendergast missed the last attempt to tie it just before the buzzer.

Whitewater, which improved to 23-7 with the win, will advance to face Johns Hopkins University in the round of 16 of the NCAA Championships next weekend.