CHICAGO, Ill. – Case Western Reserve University men's basketball senior forward Tom Summers (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) scored a team-high 21 points, but it wasn't enough as the University of Chicago (Ill.) slowly pulled away in the second half lifting the hosts to an 86-78 victory on Sunday afternoon during University Athletic Association play inside the Ratner Athletic Center. With his 21-point showing, Summers inches closer to the 1,000-point plateau with 990 for his career.
With the setback, the Spartans slip to 9-13 overall and 1-10 in the UAA. The Maroons pick up their second victory of the weekend improving to 13-9 and 6-5 in the Association.
With the score knotted at 7-7 at the 16:05 mark of the first half, the Spartans embarked on an 11-3 run over the next five minutes which included six points from freshman guard Julien Person (Houston, Texas/Second Baptist). The final basket of the run gave Case its largest lead, at 18-10, as Summers followed an offensive rebound with a put-back. However, Chicago slowly chipped away at the lead, eventually grabbing a one-point edge (26-25) as a lay-up by Matt Johnson closed a 16-7 run with 4:44 left in the opening period.
The teams traded buckets over the next few minutes before Summers tallied a lay-up on an assist from freshman point guard Jordan Dean (St. Johns, Fla./Creekside) and freshman Dane McLoughlin (Westerville, Ohio/St. Charles Preparatory) snagged his own missed three-point attempt and hit a twisting jumper in the lane giving the visitors a 34-30 edge. Chicago's Charlie Hughes then connected on a three-pointer just seconds before the half cutting the Spartan halftime advantage to just one, 34-33.
Out of the break, the Spartans rattled off a 9-4 spurt finished off with a jumper from junior forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, Mich./Birmingham Brother Rice), giving the visitors a 43-37 lead with 16:25 left to play. But similar to the first half, the Maroons answered with a quick 6-0 spurt in less than a minute of action, tying the contest at 43-43 as Matt Johnson completed a three-point play. Over the next several minutes, Chicago slowly built the advantage to between three and seven points before eventually moving ahead by 10 (70-60) with 4:33 left on a three-pointer by Sam Gage. The Spartans would get no closer than six the rest of the way.
Individually, Summers' 21 points were accompanied by eight rebounds, giving him 702 caroms for his career. Fowler finished with his second double-double of the weekend and sixth this season with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore center David Thompson (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) and Dean chipped in with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Maroons were led by Johnson, the UAA's leading scorer, with 23 points, while Gage finished with 18.