Case Western Reserve University graduate student guard Anthony Mazzeo scored a season-high 30 points and graduate student forward Colin Kahl added 23 points to lead the eighth-ranked Spartans to a 98-87 win over Clark University on Friday evening and complete a 2-0 showing at the 2023 D3hoops.com Classic at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Spartans improved to 11-0 for the campaign, matching the best start in program history. It marked the second-straight season that CWRU has gone undefeated in regular season non-conference play and the Spartans extended their regular season non-conference winning streak to 31-straight games. CWRU also moved just a game away from the longest winning streak in program history, a 12-game stretch during the 2021-22 season.

Clark fell to 8-2 on the season with the loss.

Mazzeo was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 28.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists over the two games. He finished Friday night's game shooting 11-for-13 from the floor, including four-for-five from behind the three-point line, and also led all CWRU players with eight rebounds while matching his career-high with seven assists for the second-straight night.

Kahl shot 8-for-11 from the floor and two-of-four from long range while adding seven rebounds, two steals, and a season-high three blocks. Junior forward Umar Rashid and junior guard Sam Trunley each added 12 points apiece, and senior guard Luke Thorburn finished the game with 10 points.

Behind 13 points from Mazzeo over the first seven minutes of the game, the Spartans managed to build a 12-point lead, 25-13, with just under 12 minutes to play in the first half. The Cougars responded with an 8-0 run to trim the CWRU lead to four with 9:36 on the clock, but the Spartans answered back again with a 9-0 run of their own to stretch the lead back to double digits, 34-21, with 7:44 to play after a jumper by Trunley. Clark cut the lead back to three points with 5:26 left with 10 unanswered points, but the Spartans outscored the Cougars 14-5 to close out the half, and a pair of free throws by Kahl with three seconds left in the period sent CWRU into the locker room leading 48-36.

A layup by Thorburn and a jumper by Rashid to start the second half quickly expanded the Spartans' lead to 16 points. CWRU went on to shoot 70.8 (17-24) in the second period and led by as many as 17 points in the game, going ahead 72-55 on a layup by Kahl with 9:58 to play. CWRU maintained a double-digit lead until a pair of free throws by the Cougars briefly cut the Spartans' lead to nine points with 1:07 to play. However, two free throws from Trunley and a layup in transition by Thorburn off a steal by Mazzeo in the final minute helped the Spartans wrap up the win.

The Spartans finished the game shooting a season-high 61.4% (35-57) from the floor, the fourth-best single-game mark in the program's history.

With Friday's win, coupled with an 87-74 victory over fourth-ranked Oswego State on Thursday, the Spartans became the 29th team in the 13-year history of the D3hoops.com Classic to go 2-0 at the event. CWRU's 98 points scored in the game were the second most in a contest in the tournament's history and just two shy of matching the D3hoops.com Classic record.

With its non-conference schedule now complete, Case Western Reserve will now turn its attention to the start of University Athletic Association play, which is slated to begin the first weekend in January. The Spartans will open league action against Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday, January 6 at 3:00 p.m. in Pittsburgh.