The Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team defeated Penn State Behrend 71-68 in a non-conference game on Tuesday night at the Junker Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The Spartans improved to 2-0 this season, while the Lions dropped 1-1.

Stats and Standouts

• First-year forward Alex Vincent led the Spartans with 24 points off the bench, including 18 in the first half, making 11 of his 15 shots while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds (four offensive)
• Senior forward Andrew Fox added 11 points, four rebounds, and two blocks, and senior guard Anand Dharmarajan contributed 10 points, including four key free throws in the final seconds
• Junior guard Julian Scott pulled down six rebounds, added eight points, and dished out a team-high four assists
• CWRU shot 51.9% (28-of-54) from the field and 42.9% (6-of-14) from three-point range

First Half

• CWRU scored the first basket of the game a minute into the contest, but the hosts followed with a 11-2 run to take a seven-point lead
• A three-pointer by first-year guard Anestis Hadjistamoulou cut the deficit to two, 14-12
• Back-to-back baskets by Vincent gave CWRU a 16-14 edge eight minutes into the period
• After the Lions reclaimed the lead, an 8-0 Spartan run capped by a Vincent layup put the visitors ahead 25-21
• Behrend went ahead 26-25 with a layup, but Vincent dropped in a layup, missed the ensuing free throw, and scored after Fox grabbed the offensive rebound
• Trailing 31-29, Hadjistamoulou drained a pull-up three-pointer, his second of the game to give the team a lead it would not relinquish
• The Spartans ended the half on a 7-4 run to take a 39-35 lead into the break, holding the hosts scoreless over the final 3:10 of the period

Second Half

• CWRU scored six of the first eight points in the second half, taking a 45-37 lead on a layup by Fox less than two minutes into the frame
• The Spartans took a 10-point lead, their largest of the night, on a three-pointer by Dharmarajan with 13:31 left in the game
• An 8-1 Behrend run cut the deficit to three, 54-51, with 9:17 remaining in the contest
• Vincent put the team ahead by six, 61-55, with a jumper with 5:48 left, but the Lions scored the next five points, cutting the deficit to one, 61-60 just two minutes later
• Scott drove into the paint on the next possession, extending the lead to three
• Behrend responded with a jumper, but a layup by Fox with 2:42 left put the Spartans ahead by three
• After calling a timeout, the Lions made a jumper with 85 seconds left, making the score 65-64
• Despite a missed layup, the Spartans grabbed an offensive rebound on the next possession
• Vincent made both ensuing free throws, putting the team ahead by three again with 67 ticks remaining
• CWRU forced a missed shot, and drew a foul, but the team missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 22 seconds left
• Penn State Behrend made a layup 11 seconds later, cutting the deficit back to one
• Dharmarajan sunk both free throws on the next possession, and with the lead back down to one after two Lion makes from the charity stripe, sunk two more free throws with five seconds left
• The Spartans forced a missed three-pointer on the last possession to clinch the victory

Spartan Notes

• CWRU saw 36 of its 71 points come from bench players, including 24 from Vincent
• The win was the first for Case Western Reserve in three attempts over the Lions, previously losing games during the 2004-05 and 2015-16 seasons
• The Spartans have started 2-0 for the fourth consecutive season and sixth time out of the previous seven campaigns
• CWRU held a 40-26 edge in rebounds, including 11 offensive rebounds that resulted in 11 second chance points

Up Next

The Spartans will travel to Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, for the Omni Ink Waynesburg Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Waynesburg University on Friday and Saturday. CWRU takes on the host Yellow Jackets on Friday at 7 p.m. and will face either Mount Union or Muhlenberg on Saturday at 1 or 3 p.m.