St. Louis, Mo., February 3, 2013 – The No. 21 ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team moved into a tie for second place in the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings with a 78-57 win against Case Western Reserve University Sunday at the WU Field House in St. Louis.

Washington University (16-4, 6-3 UAA) completes a four-game homestand against Emory Friday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m., and No. 1 ranked Rochester Sunday, Feb. 10, at Noon. Rochester holds a two-game lead in the UAA standings over second-place Washington U, Emory and Brandeis University, who all have a 6-3 conference mark.

Junior guard Alan Aboona led all scorers with 18 points on 4-of-7 three-pointers, while senior center Robert Burnett had a double-double with 16 points and 11 points. The double-double for Burnett was his second of the year and third of his career. Sophomore forward Matt Palucki added 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while senior guard Ben Hoener had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Washington U. shot 43.7 percent (31-71) from the field, and hit 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. The Bears outrebounded Case 51-31, including 20 offensive rebounds. Washington U. has outrebounded 17 of 20 opponents, and lead NCAA Division III with a 12.7 rebounding margin. The Bears had 23 assists as a team, and had four players with four assists.

Washington U. took an early 9-4 lead on a put-back by Burnett, as Washington U. had 11 rebounds (eight offensive) in the first four minutes of play. A three-pointer by Palucki pushed the Bears' lead to 16-10 with 13:51 remaining.

With the score tied at 16-16, Washington U. went on a 15-4 run to take its largest lead of the half at 31-20 following a baseline jumper by junior Will Patt. The Bears took a 35-28 lead to half, shooting 40 percent (14-35) from the field and outrebounding Case 24-14. Palucki led all scorers with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Washington U. opened the second half on a 16-6 run to jump ahead 51-34 on a fast-break lay-up by sophomore Nick Burt. After a full timeout by Case, Aboona scored on a handoff and then nailed a three-pointer to push the advantage to 20 (56-36) before another timeout by Case.

The Bears continued to pound the ball inside to Burnett, as his bucket with 5:01 to play gave Washington U. its largest lead of the game at 74-48. The Bears shot 47.2 percent (17-36) from the field in the second half.

Austin Fowler (13 points, eight rebounds), Brian Klements (12 points) and David Thompson (11 points, nine rebounds) scored in double figures for Case Western Reserve, which dropped to 9-11, 2-7 in the UAA. The Spartans hit just 3-of-16 from three-point range, and recorded five blocks. The Spartans entered the contest first in NCAA Division III averaging 6.4 blocked shots per game.

Bear Notebook: Washington U. leads the all-time series with Case Western Reserve, 38-4, and the Bears have won the last 17 meetings … Aboona eclipsed the 500-point mark for his career … Burnett and Hoener have scored in double figures in four-straight contests.