CHICAGO, IL – Sophomore forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, MI/Brother Rice) scored a career-high 24 points and added eight rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team dropped a back-and-forth overtime struggle, 71-66, against the University of Chicago on Friday, January 28 at the Ratner Center.
Junior Tom Summers (Murrysville, PA/Franklin Regional) added 13 points and eight rebounds, while freshman guard Mike Byrne (Newton, PA/Holy Ghost) chipped in with 11 points and seven assists on a crisp five-of-six shooting night. Senior Reid Anderson (Avon Lake, OH/St. Edward) also scored 12 for the Spartans, who dropped to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in the University Athletic Association.
Chicago improved to 6-11 overall and 3-3 in the UAA with the win. The Maroons were led by a game-high 25-point effort from Matt Johnson.
The Spartans will be back in action on Sunday, January 30 at 12:00 p.m. CT against Washington University (MO).
Case got on the board first via a Fowler jumper just 29 seconds into the game, but neither team held an advantage of more than four points early and, despite leading six different times in the first half, Case trailed, 25-24, at intermission.
In the second stanza the margin never grew past three, but the Spartans reclaimed the lead early on a lay-in by senior center Eric Duerr (Gibsonia, PA/Pine-Richland) that made the score 26-25 at the 19:28 mark. Chicago grabbed what was tied for its biggest lead of the half, at 54-51, with 4:52 to go on a triple by Johnson. Nevertheless, Byrne answered at the 2:52 mark with a jumper and the Spartans took the lead, 55-54, with 1:26 to go on an Anderson layup.
Fowler looked to seal the game on a layup with only 27 seconds remaining, but Chicago's Tom Williams hit a high-arcing three from the right wing to tie it up, 57-57, with 13 seconds to play in regulation. A missed jumper by Anderson with just two seconds to go would force overtime.
Anderson opened up the extra period by converting on a tricky reverse jumper just 13 seconds into the bonus frame to give Case a quick lead. Fowler supplemented the Case advantage at the 3:28 mark with a pair of free throws to make it 61-58.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Stefanou and Michael Sustarsic opened up a Maroon lead of 64-61 with 1:56 on the clock. Fowler responded at the 1:19 mark with a layup to shave the lead to one, but free throws would help Chicago extend the lead back to four, at 68-64, with just 26 ticks on the clock.
Byrne hit on a jumper with 19 seconds to play to make it 68-66, but Chicago closed it out on free throws to win, 71-66, by the largest margin of the night for either team.