CLEVELAND – Sophomore forward Dane McLoughlin (Westerville, Ohio/St. Charles Preparatory) totaled 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds as the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team opened the 2012-13 season with a 66-53 win versus Bluffton University on day one of the 2012 Stephanie Tubbs Jones Memorial Tournament inside Horsburgh Gymnasium.
The Spartans (1-0) play Wittenberg University in the tournament championship game tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. Bluffton (0-1) will face Johns Hopkins University (Md.) in the consolation at 5:00 p.m.
McLoughlin shot 6-of-11 from the field and contributed three of Case's 14 blocks in the contest. In addition, junior guard Tim Chung (Cypress, Calif./Los Alamitos) scored 16 points off of the bench, and sophomore point guard Jordan Dean (St. Johns, Fla./Creekside) added 11 points and six assists.
In the first half, Bluffton jumped out to an early seven-point lead when Tyler Neal hit a three-pointer to make the score 11-4 at the 16:44 mark. The lead grew to nine at 18-9 following a Jon Fowler jumper at 13:34, but the Spartans chipped away with a 6-0 run and got to within three, at 18-15, when Chung scored his first bucket of the season at 10:53. The Beavers then came back with seven straight and led by 10, at 25-15, when Will Pope scored a layup with 9:55 left in the period.
Undaunted, the Spartans answered with a 14-3 run to grab their first lead of 29-28 as Chung hit three free throws with 4:16 remaining before intermission. The two sides exchanged leads over the duration of the half, and Bluffton went into the locker room with a 32-31 advantage.
In the second, Bluffton maintained its lead early until Case moved ahead via a 9-2 run that ended in a pair of charity shots from junior center David Thompson (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) and made the score 46-43 with 13:00 left to play. Less than three minutes later, Case's lead grew to a high to five, at 49-44, when freshman point guard Jimmy Holman (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) nailed a three-pointer at 10:23.
From there, the Spartans opened the game up and extended the lead to eight, at 54-46, when senior forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, Mich./Birmingham Brother Rice) electrified a raucous home crowd with a breakaway dunk at 7:17. The Spartan lead never dipped below five the rest of the way, and Chung hit four free throws in the final 36 seconds to seal the deal.
For the game, Case Western Reserve was a perfect 12-of-12 from the free throw line.
Following tomorrow's game, the Spartans open a brief two-game road trip with a 7:00 p.m. game at Denison University on Tuesday, November 20 in Granville.