St. Louis, Mo., January 30, 2011 — Senior forward Spencer Gay scored 22 points with seven rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team to a 80-65 victory over Case Western Reserve University in University Athletic Association (UAA) action on Sunday afternoon at the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Mo.

With the victory, Washington University extended its conference winning streak to four-straight games and the Bears improved to 10-8 overall and 4-3 in the UAA. Washington U. will play its next four games on the road, starting with a crucial game at Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, Feb. 4, in Pittsburgh, Pa., at 8 p.m. (ET).

Gay has scored at least 22 points in three of his last four games and has reached double figures in 16 of 18 games played this season. Sophomore Ben Hoener filled up the stat sheet with 13 points, five rebounds and six assists. Juniors Dylan Richter (14 points) and Alex Toth (14 points) made it four players in double figures for the Bears.

Washington University led by as many as 17 points in the first half thanks to a huge 18-2 run over a span of 6:20. Case Western Reserve was just 1-of-8 from the field during the Bears' crucial run and the Spartans turned the ball over three times.
Gay started the game shooting 4-of-5 from the field, and scored his 10th point as Hoener fed him underneath the basket for an easy lay-up to make the score 23-15.

A Hoener lay-up on the next possession stretched the WUSTL lead to 10 points, and Richter and freshman Tim Cooney both drained three-pointers to stretch the advantage to 17.

Gay scored 12 points in the first half with Richter and Toth each adding seven. The Bears dominated the glass, outrebounding Case Western Reserve 23-16 with 11 offensive boards, and the Red and Green led 14-6 in second chance opportunities.

Neither team was on fire offensively to start the second half but Case Western Reserve was especially cold to begin the period. The Spartans hit just two of their first 16 field goal attempts of the second half as the Bears built a 22-point lead midway through the half and the Red and Green led by as many as 26 points with five minutes to play.

A three-pointer from Hoener with 14:50 remaining put the Bears up by 18 and Gay scored two and a half minutes later to stretch the advantage to 20. Two more points from Gay on the Bears' next possession, this time at the free-throw line, pushed the WUSTL lead to 22.

Austin Fowler scored 18 points with four three-point field goals to lead Case Western Reserve, which fell to 7-11 overall, including 3-4 in the UAA. The Spartans shot just 36.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent in the second half while Washington U. shot 47.5 percent overall.

Bear Notebook: Washington University leads the all-time series with Case Western Reserve, 33-4, and the Bears have won 12-straight meetings between the two teams … Knepper made his fourth start of the season and 13th of his career.