OBERLIN, Ohio – Junior guard Tim Chung (Cypress, Calif./Los Alamitos) scored a career-high 22 points as the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team hung on for a 58-53 victory at Oberlin College on Saturday afternoon inside Philips Gymnasium.
With the victory, the Spartans improve to 4-2 overall, including a perfect 3-0 on the road, and will return to action this Wednesday, December 5 when they play host to Allegheny College (Pa.) at 7:00 p.m. inside Horsburgh Gymnasium. With the loss, the Yeomen fall to 1-5.
In 28 minutes of action off the bench, Chung knocked down 7-of-10 field goal attempts and was 4-of-5 from three-point range. Sophomore forward Brian Klements (Willoughby Hills, Ohio/Willoughby South) led a balanced Case attack behind Chung with seven points, while senior forward and captain Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, Mich./Brother Rice), junior center David Thompson (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) and freshman guard Jimmy Holman (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) each tallied six markers, respectively.
Early on in the contest, the teams traded baskets before Case moved ahead for the duration of the half at 6-5 with a layup by freshman point guard Jordan Dean (St. Johns, Fla./Creekside) at 14:24. Over the next 7:06 of play, the Spartans utilized a 14-4 run capped off by a jumper from Holman to build a 20-9 lead. The visitor lead grew to as many as a dozen (24-12) on a jumper by Thompson with 4:27 left, but the Yeomen chipped away and eventually cut the deficit to two, 26-24, on a three-point field goal by Andrew Fox with 17 seconds left.
However, Spartan sophomore Dane McLoughlin (Westerville, Ohio/St. Charles Preparatory) responded during the final possession of the opening half with a trey via an assist by Dean.
In the second half, Oberlin scored the initial five points of the stanza and tied the contest at 29-29. However, a pair of free throws and a jumper by Chung then a layup following a steal by sophomore guard Ken Gibbons (Cairnbrook, Pa./Shade) pushed the Spartan advantage back to six, at 35-29, with 15:13 left. Over the next five minutes, Case reeled off an 11-3 run finished off by a three-pointer from Chung with exactly 10:00 remaining in the contest.
Not done yet, Oberlin whittled the Spartan advantage down to just two on a pair of occasions with the final time coming with 29 ticks left (55-53), but Case knocked down 3-of-4 charity tosses in the wanning seconds for the five-point victory.
Of note, the Spartan men held a decided 39-0 edge over Oberlin in bench points led by Chung's 22.
Offensively, Oberlin posted three players in double figures led by Fox with 14, while Geoff Simpson and Emmanuel Lewis added 13 and 10, respectively.
Following Wednesday's home contest with Allegheny, the Spartans hit the road once again when they travel to Kalamazoo College (Mich.) on Sunday, December 9 at 2:00 p.m.