From Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Senior guard Tim Chung (Cypress, Calif./Los Alamitos) scored a game-high 20 points, and sophomore point guard Jimmy Holman (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) added 19 points and six assists to lead the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team to a 67-66 comeback victory versus the University of Rochester (N.Y.) on Seniors' Night at Horsburgh Gymnasium.
The Spartans (13-8, 5-5 University Athletic Association) clinch the program's first winning season since 2009-10. The Yellowjackets (8-13, 2-8 UAA) have lost seven-of-eight.
Honored prior to tip-off along with senior center David Thompson (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior), Chung hit four three-pointers in the game to set a CWRU single-season record (66). Thompson finished just shy of his 12th double-double with nine points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Holman added five rebounds to go along with his career-best 19 points.
Rochester, which led by as many 15 in the first half, had a pair of players post double-doubles. Mack Montague finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Jared Seltzer posted 11 and 10.
The Yellowjackets opened the game by hitting eight of their first 10 shots en route to a 19-8 lead at the 13:15 mark of the first half. A jump shot by Kevin Sheehy ballooned the lead to 15 at 7:46 before the Spartans began to heat up with a 6-0 run. That spurt eventually trimmed the deficit to 35-31 at 2:18, but Rochester was able to finish on an 8-0 run to lead 43-31 at halftime.
Feeding off of the emotion of the student section, the Spartans came out strong to start the second half, and Chung scored the first seven points to cut the deficit to single-digits at the 17:27 mark. The hosts continued to chip away and finally pulled even at 49-49 when Holman knocked down an elbow jumper to cap a 9-0 run at 11:23.
A corner triple for Montague gave the visitors a 64-59 lead with 3:18 to play, but Holman responded with a pair of buckets to get the Spartans to within a point.
After a crucial defensive stop, junior forward Dane McLoughlin (Westerville, Ohio/St. Charles Prepatory) splashed a deep triple from the right wing to give the Spartans a 66-64 lead—their first of the game—with only 1:39 remaining.
After failing to tie the game, the Yellowjackets were forced to foul Thompson, who hit one-of-two free throws to increase the Spartan lead to 67-64 with 19.7 left on the clock.
Sheehy was able to close the Spartan lead to 67-66 by hitting an open corner jumper with 12 seconds left. After a missed free throw at the front end of a one-and-one, the Yellowjackets had one last chance, but a three-point attempt rattled out at the buzzer.