Case Western Reserve University senior guard Sam Trunley ended his collegiate career with a flourish on Saturday afternoon, scoring 51 points to set the school single-game and single-season records and help lead the Spartans to a 110-104 win over Carnegie Mellon University in the teams' season finale in Pittsburgh.

CWRU ended its 2024-25 campaign with a 9-16 overall record and a 5-9 mark in the University Athletic Association, good for a tie for fifth place in the league standings. Carnegie Mellon dropped to 13-12 overall and ended the year seventh in the conference with a 4-10 UAA mark.

Entering the game needing just nine points to surpass former Spartan Anthony Mazzeo's program record of 545 points in a season (set last year), Trunley left no doubt, tying the record with a layup at the 7:03 mark in the first half and surpassing the mark with a free throw with 3:41 left in the first stanza. He surpassed 20 points for the game with under a minute left in the first half, his 17th effort of 20 or more points this year, and a three with 10:02 to play in the game pushed him over 30 points for the fourth time this season. With 5:06 remaining in the game, Trunley connected on his seventh and final three of the contest to give him 46 points for the day, surpassing his own school record of 45 points set earlier this year against SUNY Brockport. He went on to make five of seven free throws down the stretch of the game to become the first Spartan to score over 50 points in a game.

Not only were the 51 points a program record, but it also marked the most points ever scored by a player in a University Athletic Association game, breaking the previous record of 49 set by the University of Chicago's Matt Johnson against Emory in 2012. It was the fourth-most points scored in a game by a Division III player this season.

Trunley made 15-of-21 shot attempts in the game and connected on seven-of-11 three-point tries, one shy of his own school record while connecting on 14-of-16 free throw attempts. He added nine rebounds, five assists, and a block in the effort on Saturday.

While overshadowed by Trunley, junior guard Anand Dharmarajan turned in a career day of his own with a personal-best 27 points, shooting nine-of-15 overall and making seven-of-10 attempts from long range. Senior forward Andrew Fox added a double-double, his first as a Spartan, with 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

The Spartans put 60 points on the board in the first half of the game with Trunley (24 points) and Dharmarajan (19 points) combined for 43 points over the first 20 minutes of play. The Spartans scored the first five points of the game and led 7-2 by the 18:32 mark before a 5-0 run by Carnegie Mellon evened the score with 16:54 on the clock. The Tartans took their only lead of the period with 16:07 left in the frame, going ahead 10-9, but the advantage was short-lived as a hook shot by Andrew Fox gave CWRU the lead back, and the Spartans remained ahead for the rest of the half. CWRU led by as many as 11 points in the first period, going ahead 35-24 on a layup by Trunley with 7:03 in the half. The Tartans whittled the lead down to just two points, 52-50, with under two minutes left in the first half, but CWRU closed out the period on an 8-2 run and Dharmarajan's fifth three-pointer of the half with three seconds left sent the Spartans into the locker room with a 60-52 lead.

CWRU finished the first half shooting 56.1% overall (23-41) and made 47.4% (9-19) attempts from long range.

A layup by graduate student Christian McDaniel to start the second boosted the Spartans' lead to 10 points, but the Tartans cut the lead to two points, 62-60, with 16:49 to play in the game. CWRU stayed ahead of the Tartans for the next 10 minutes, despite Carnegie Mellon cutting the lead to just a point on two occasions, but Trunley immediately answered with a basket each time to help bolster the Spartans' lead. However, the game remained close and the Tartans went ahead 91-90 with 6:57 to play after a 5-0 run. A pair of free throws from Trunley on CWRU's next possession put the Spartans back in front, and the team would not trail again in the game. The Tartans did manage to tie the game at 96-96 with 5:22 to go, but a Trunley three gave CWRU the lead again and the Spartans held off Carnegie Mellon the rest of the way for the win, leading by as many as seven points in the closing minutes of the game.

CWRU finished the game shooting 50.7% (36-71) from the floor and 45.5% (15-33) from three-point range.

Saturday's game concludes the 2024-25 campaign for the Spartans.

Spartan Notes

• The Spartans' 110 points on Saturday were a season high and marked just the third time this season that CWRU has scored at least 100 points in a game. It was the most points scored in a game by the Spartans since registering 111 against John Carroll in 2021 and the fifth-most points in a game all-time by CWRU.

• CWRU led for all but 96 seconds on Saturday and trailed for just 36 seconds in the game.

• Trunley finished his career with 1,195 points, the 11th-most all-time.

• Senior forward Umar Rashid scored seven points on Saturday to finish his career with 1,007 points, the 22nd-most in program history. He finished the season with 42 blocks, the sixth-most in a campaign in program history, and his 137 career blocks rank second all-time.

• The Spartans' first-half performance marked the highest-scoring half of the season by the team with the 60 points surpassing the 58 that CWRU scored in the second half against Brandeis on January 24.

• Saturday's win gave the Spartans a season sweep of the Tartans, the only UAA team this season that CWRU won both games against. CWRU stands at 48-40 all-time against Carnegie Mellon following the win and has now won three straight games against the Tartans.