Behind a season-high 25 points off the bench from graduate student guard Preston Maccoux, the 10th-ranked Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team defeated Brandeis University 78-70 on Sunday afternoon at Red Auerbach Arena inside the Gosman Center in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The Spartans improved to 18-4 on the season with the win and 7-4 in University Athletic Association contests. With an NYU loss to Carnegie Mellon earlier in the day, CWRU gained a game on the first-place Violets (18-4, 8-3 UAA) in the conference standings, moving to just one game back with three contests remaining. The Judges fell to 13-9 overall and 4-7 in UAA games.
Maccoux matched a career high with seven three-pointers and reached the double-digit mark for the seventh time this season. He shot nine-of-15 from the field and seven-of-11 from beyond the arc to follow his 19-point outburst in his previous game.
Graduate student guard Anthony Mazzeo nearly achieved the first triple-double in program history, settling for 13 points on nine rebounds and a career-high eight assists. Senior guard Luke Thorburn scored a season-high 13 points on four-of-six shooting, adding five rebounds, five assists, and two steals, and junior forward Umar Rashid contributed 12 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Just missing out on a double-double was graduate student forward Colin Kahl, who scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
A 5-0 run early in the first half gave the Spartans a 15-10 lead, and the visitors led by as many as six points, 22-16, on a three-pointer by Maccoux. The Judges responded with a 13-1 run over the next 3:44 to take a six-point lead with under five minutes remaining in the first half. A layup from Thorburn ended the run to cut the deficit to four, and senior forward Ian Elam followed with a layup to bring the Spartans within two with 2:14 remaining in the first half.
A quick 5-0 run gave Brandeis a seven-point advantage, but the Spartans scored six points in the final 40 seconds of the period to cut the deficit to one, 34-33, heading into the break. Elam made a free throw, and Thorburn drained a three-pointer and followed with a steal on the other end. He found sophomore guard Anand Dharmarajan for a buzzer-beating fast break layup to end the half.
Kahl and Mazzeo continued the Spartan run into the second half, scoring the next four points on layups to give CWRU a three-point advantage just one minute into the frame. Following a Brandeis timeout, the Judges tied the score at 37 with a three-pointer, but Rashid responded with a three of his own to reclaim the lead for the Spartans.
The three-pointer ignited a 13-4 Case Western Reserve run, putting the visitors ahead by nine, 50-41, six minutes into the half, marking the Spartans' largest lead of the afternoon. The Judges cut their deficit to five with a pair of free throws, but a Thorburn layup brought the Spartan advantage up to seven. After a two-and-a-half-minute scoreless drought, Brandeis made it a one-possession game with four straight points. After CWRU pushed the lead back to six on a Kahl layup, a three-pointer by the Judges made the score 57-54 with 7:38 left in regulation.
Mazzeo converted a three-point play to push the lead to six, but Brandeis would not go away, eventually tying the score at 64 with 3:47 to play.
On the next possession, Maccoux drained his sixth three-pointer of the game to give CWRU a 67-64 advantage, a lead the team would not give up for the rest of the contest. A Brandeis layup on the next possession cut the deficit to one, but two Mazzeo free throws pushed the Spartan lead back to three. Following a stop, Rashid drained a three-pointer to put the visitors ahead 72-66 with 2:29 to play.
After two empty possessions, Brandeis converted a layup to cut the deficit to four. Maccoux responded again with his seventh three-pointer to make the score 75-68 with 1:06 remaining. The Judges followed with a jumper in the paint with 48.5 seconds left, but the CWRU defense held Brandeis without a point for the rest of the contest, and the Spartans made enough free throws in the final minute to clinch the victory.
Overall, Case Western Reserve made 46.6% of their shots from the field, including 43.3% from beyond the arc, compared to 42.1% overall and 36.4% from three-point range for Brandeis. CWRU held a 39-32 advantage on the boards, including a 10-4 edge in offensive rebounds.
The Spartans return to Cleveland for a three-game homestand to end the regular season, beginning with a matchup against Emory on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Case Western Reserve will then host the University of Rochester Yellowjackets on Sunday at 12 p.m. to conclude the team's annual Throwback Weekend.
