CLEVELAND, OH – The Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team defeated its second straight top-25 opponent with a 66-63 victory versus 13th-ranked Brandeis University (MA) on Sunday, January 16 at Horsburgh Gymnasium.

With its fifth win in six contests, Case Western Reserve improves to 7-7 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the University Athletic Association. Brandeis loses its second straight and drops to 11-2 and 1-2 UAA.

Junior forward Tom Summers (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) scored 10 of the Spartans' first 12 points en route to a 14-point, six-rebound effort. In addition, sophomore forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, MI/Brother Rice) scored 13 and senior wing Reid Anderson (Avon Lake, OH/St. Edward) totaled 10.

The Judges were led by Ruben Kanya with a game-high 20 points.

The Spartans forced 16 first half turnovers and led 21-10 when freshman center David Thompson (Plano, TX/Plano Senior) followed a missed fast-break layup with a dunk at the 8:15 mark.  Case's lead grew to a high 14, at 24-10, after a Fowler jumper with 5:19 left in the period. Brandeis got to within 24-17 thanks to a 7-0 run that ended in a Kanya layup at 2:39, but Case was able to end the half on a 7-5 run to lead 31-22.

Brandeis inched closer in the second half and got to within two, at 45-43, when Alex Stoyle capped a 10-2 run with two free throws at 7:35. The Judges were then able to trim their deficit to one on two occasions, the second coming with two Vytas Kriskus charity shots at 5:03. The Spartans re-built their lead to five when Anderson sunk a triple with 2:41 left to play.

The Judges battled back and got to within one, at 59-58, when Ruben hit two free throws with 55 seconds left. Undaunted, the Spartans got four straight free throws from Thompson and freshman guard Tim Chung (Cypress, CA/Los Alamitos) to lead 63-58 with 00:19 left to play. Ruben hit a desperation three-pointer with eight ticks left on the clock to make the score 63-61, but the Spartans were able to get one free throw from Anderson, then fouled on the next Brandeis possession to hold the Judges to a pair of free throws.

Brandeis was forced to foul Chung on the ensuing in-bound, and the freshman was able to convert two free throws to make the score 66-63.

The Spartans return to action next Friday, January 21 at Emory University (GA) at 8:00 p.m. in Atlanta, Georgia. The team also plays at the University of Rochester (NY) at noon on Sunday.