CLEVELAND, OH – Freshman guard Tim Chung (Cypress, CA/Los Alamitos) scored a career-high 17 points and the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team used a key 9-0 run late in the second half to propel themselves to an 80-76 victory versus 25th-ranked New York University on Friday, January 14 at Horsburgh Gymnasium.
With their fourth win in five games, the Spartans improve to 6-7 overall and 2-0 in the UAA heading into a Sunday home game versus No. 13 Brandeis University (MA) at 12:00 p.m. With the loss, the Violets fall to 11-2 and 0-2 in the UAA.
In addition to Chung's career-high, sophomore forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, MI/Brother Rice) totaled 15 points with five rebounds.
NYU was led by Richie Polan with game-highs of 24 points and 11 rebounds.
The first half was tightly contested, as neither team was able to build a lead larger than four. NYU led 17-13 when Carl Yaffe hit a three-pointer at 11:53 and the Spartans led 29-25 when freshman guard Tim Chung (Cypress, CA/Los Alamitos) hit a three-pointer with 6:33 left in the period. The Spartans built another four-point lead, 41-37, when sophomore guard Robert Scott (Paoli, PA/Conestoga) scored a layup with 46 seconds left before half. NYU's Andy Stein hit the period's final bucket at 00:29 to bring the score to 41-39.
In the second, the Spartan lead grew to five, at 47-42, when junior forward Tom Summers (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) hit a layup at 17:05. The Violets came back with a 9-0 run and led 53-47 when Yaffe hit a triple with 14:11 left to play. Case outscored NYU 17-11 over the next 7:40 and tied the score at 64 when freshman center David Thompson (Plano, TX/Plano Senior) hit two free throws at 6:31. The Spartans then scored five more in a row to cap a 9-0 run and led 69-64 when Chung stole an in-bound pass and hit a layup at 5:03.
Case built its lead to a game-high eight, at 74-66, when Fowler hit a jumper with 1:51 left to play. NYU was able to get within two on two occasions down the stretch, the second coming when D.J. Glavan hit a free throw to make the score 78-76 with two ticks left on the clock, but Chung sealed the deal with a pair of free throws of his own.