The second-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the 2023-24 campaign on Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, falling 84-74 to Carnegie Mellon in the opening game of the University Athletic Association campaign for both teams.

CWRU dropped to 11-1 overall and to 0-1 in the conference following the loss, while Carnegie Mellon improved to 9-3 with a 1-0 UAA record.

Graduate student guard Anthony Mazzeo led a group of five CWRU players in double figures with 17 points in the game, adding eight rebounds and a pair of assists. Junior guard Sam Trunley came off the bench to score 16 points and lead the team with four assists, while graduate student forward Colin Kahl scored 12 points and added seven rebounds, despite battling foul trouble most of the game. Junior Umar Rashid notched his third double-double of the season with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks, and senior guard Luke Thorburn finished the game with 10 points.

Kahl and Thorburn each hit three-point shots in the first two minutes of action to give CWRU a 6-4 lead in the game, but the Tartans responded with a three of their own and never trailed again in the game. The Spartans were within striking distance, trailing 18-15 after a three by graduate student guard Preston Maccoux with 12:55 left in the first half, but a 9-2 run over the next 90 seconds gave Carnegie Mellon its first double-figure lead of the afternoon. CWRU cut the lead back to three, 35-32, on a layup by Trunley with 4:52 remaining in the half, but the Tartans scored 11 of the final 14 points of the period to take a game-high 11-point lead, 46-35, into the break.

While the Tartans remained ahead, CWRU cut the lead down to just a point with under 12 minutes left in the game after a three by Trunley and a layup by Mazzeo set the score at 57-56. However, the Tartans scored seven unanswered points over the next minute to increase their lead to eight points. The Spartans made a final run later in the game, pulling back within two points, 73-71, with an 11-3 run capped off by a layup from Trunley with 2:43 to play, and found themselves down by just four with 51 seconds left, but that would be as close as CWRU would get, as Carnegie Mellon converted all six of its free throws in the final minute to help secure the win.

CWRU outshot Carnegie Mellon 39.7% to 36.7% in the game, but the Spartans were ultimately hurt by a season-low 23.3% mark from three-point range and a -14 rebounding differential.

Saturday's loss put an end to an 11-game winning streak to start the season for the Spartans, matching the best start in the program's history and falling one game short of the longest winning streak in team history. It also put an end to the team's nine-game UAA winning streak (dating back to last season), the longest in program history.

The Spartans will now turn their attention toward a key UAA matchup, as CWRU will host sixth-ranked New York University on Friday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland.