Behind a career-high 25 points from sophomore guard Matthew Ellis, the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team picked up an 85-65 win over Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon to head into its winter hiatus on a three-game winning streak.

The Spartans now stand at 6-3 overall, while the Gators suffered their second consecutive loss, dropping to 2-5 for the season.

Stats and Standouts

• Ellis' 25 points exceeded his previous career high of 19 points, set earlier this season against Waynesburg and matched earlier this week against Hiram. He made eight-of-12 shots from the floor, including all four of his three-point attempts, and added a five-of-five performance from the free throw line with an assist and a steal.

• Senior forward Andrew Fox finished with a career-high 17 rebounds, the most in a game by a Spartan player since Michael Hollis had 17 against Adrian during the 2018-19 campaign, and tied for the sixth-most in a contest in program history. He added five points, two assists, and a block.

• Graduate student guard Ethan Edwards scored a season-high 15 points and blocked a career-high two shots with five rebounds, an assist, and two steals.

• First-year forward Alex Vincent came off the bench to score 11 points and collect eight rebounds. 

• CWRU finished the game shooting 32-67 (47.8%) overall and 12-25 (48.0%) from three-point range.

First Half

• Edwards connected on three pointers on each of the team's first two possessions to give CWRU an early lead.

• The Spartans remained ahead until the 13:19 mark, when Allegheny grabbed a 13-11 lead on a three-pointer.

• Down 16-14, Ellis tied the game with a layup with 12:20 left in the first, starting a 19-2 run that lasted over the next six minutes and was capped off by a layup from junior guard Julian Scott that put CWRU in front 33-18 with 6:20 on the clock.

• Allegheny scored six-straight points later in the period to cut the Spartans' lead to seven points, 34-27, with 1:54 left in the frame. 

• Ellis connected on a layup just before the buzzer to give him 15 first-half points and put CWRU in front 38-30 heading into halftime.

Second Half

• Senior guard Anand Dharmarajan connected on a pair of threes, and Edwards added one of his own early in the second to extend CWRU's lead back to 15 points, 47-32, with 17:48 to play in the game.

• Ellis pushed the lead to 17 points, 53-36, with a layup with 14:57 on the clock.

• Allegheny responded by scoring 19 of the next 24 points to get back within a possession, 58-55, with 10:14 remaining in the contest, but CWRU answered with a 9-0 run of its own with a three from Ellis putting CWRU back in front 67-55 with 7:30 to go.

• CWRU continued to add to its lead, going ahead by 20 points, 77-57, on a three by junior forward Logan Brown at the 5:01 mark, helping to put the game out of reach for Allegheny. 

• The Spartans took their largest lead of the game, 26 points, on a three-pointer by first-year forward Nitish Sankaranthi with 1:46 left to go ahead 85-59, before a 6-0 run to end the contest by the Gators cut the final deficit to 20 points.

• CWRU shot 18-31 (58.1%) during the second half of the game and made eight-of-14 (57.1%) three-point attempts during the period.

Spartan Notes

• CWRU finished the game with a 40-22 edge in points in the paint, a 44-17 advantage in bench points, and a 13-2 bump in fast break points.

• Saturday's game was the 68th meeting all-time between the Spartans and the Gators, the most times CWRU has played a non-UAA opponent in program history. CWRU stands at 23-45 all-time against Allegheny, but is 4-1 in matchups since the 1999-00 campaign when the Spartans left the NCAC.

• This was the Spartans' fifth and final game against a PAC member this season, with CWRU going 4-1 against opponents from the conference. It was the team's third straight game against a PAC squad.

• CWRU now stands at 4-1 in road contests this season.

• The Spartans outrebounded the Gators 48-26 in the contest and had a 21-6 edge in second-chance points. CWRU improved to 6-1 when outrebounding its opponent this season, and was the team's seventh game this season with a double-figure rebound margin.

Up Next

The Spartans will be off until Tuesday, December 30, when the team returns to action to host Kalamazoo College at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.