Case Western Reserve University graduate student guard Anthony Mazzeo scored 30 points to set the program record for points in a season and junior guard Sam Trunley added 29 off the bench as the sixth-ranked Spartans pulled away from 22nd-ranked Hope College in the second half for a 97-79 win in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday night.
The Spartans will now advance to the Round of 16 for just the second time in program history. CWRU set a new program record for wins in a season, improving to 23-4 overall for the campaign. The Flying Dutchmen saw their 2023-24 season come to a close with a 23-7 overall record.
Mazzeo's 30 points give him 530 for the season, surpassing former Spartan Ed Saxon who scored 529 points during the 1989-90 campaign. He finished the game shooting 11-of-18 and five-of-eight from behind the three-point line while dishing out eight assists with two steals and two rebounds.
Trunley added a 12-of-20 shooting performance, including five-of-10 from long range, with four rebounds and three assists. Graduate student guard Preston Maccoux came off the bench to score 15 points, shooting six-of-seven overall and three-of-four on three-point tries, while graduate student forward Colin Kahl added eight points and 11 rebounds.
The Spartans and the Flying Dutchmen traded blows in an action-packed first half that saw CWRU take a slight edge, 40-39, into the break. The Spartans found themselves down by 10, 25-15, with 10 minutes left in the half, but followed with an 11-1 run, tying the game at 26-26 on a layup by senior guard Luke Thorburn with 7:30 on the clock. The game remained close, with five lead changes over the final six minutes of the opening half, but a layup by Trunley with 1:41 on the period gave the Spartans a 38-37 advantage, and CWRU held the lead through the end of the half.
Hope quickly tied the game early in the second half, but the period ultimately belonged to Mazzeo and Trunley, who combined for 43 of the team's 57 points in the frame. After the Flying Dutchmen tied the score, CWRU went on a 7-0 run and never relinquished the lead for the rest of the game. Leading 54-50 with 14:23 to play, the Spartans proceeded to go on a 27-9 run with all but two of the points during the stretch scored by either Mazzeo or Trunley and maintained a double-figure lead for the rest of the game. As a team, CWRU made 10-of-12 threes in the second half (83.3%) and shot 68.8% overall, leading by as many as 23 points during the stanza, en route to the 18-point victory.
CWRU finished the game shooting 58.2% overall and 50.0% from behind the three-point line. The Spartans' bench outscored Hope's 48-28 in the victory and CWRU finished the game with a 34-25 edge in rebounds.
The Spartans will now turn their attention to the Round of 16, where the Spartans will face off against 11th-ranked Wisconsin-Platteville on Friday, March 8. The other two teams in the sectional pod include WashU and 13th-ranked Trine. The location and times of the games for the Round of 16 and quarterfinals will be announced later in the weekend and will be posted to athletics.case.edu shortly after they are made available.
