CLEVELAND – Junior center David Thompson (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) scored 14 points and matched career highs with 13 rebounds and five blocks as the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team defeated University Athletic Association rival New York University, 71-61, on Friday night at Horsburgh Gymnasium.

The Spartans (10-11, 3-7 UAA) return to action this action this Sunday, February 10 versus Brandeis University (Mass.) at 12:00 p.m. The Violets fall to 13-8, 3-7 UAA.

Before the game, senior forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, Mich./Birmingham Brother Rice) was honored for eclipsing 1,000 career points earlier this season.

In addition to Thompson's fifth career double-double, sophomore point guard Jordan Dean (St. Johns, Fla./Creeksdale) came off of the bench and recorded a career-high 10 assists. Junior guard Tim Chung (Cypress, Calif./Los Alamitos) scored 16 points with four three-pointers, while Fowler and sophomore forward Dane McLoughlin (Westerville, Ohio/St. Charles Preparatory) contributed 16 and 11 points, respectively.

In the first half, NYU started the game on a 12-2 run covering the first 4:48 of action as Kyle Stockmal hit two three balls and Ryan Tana added a pair of jumpers. After a timeout, the Spartans went on a 9-2 run, and Thompson made a layup that cut the deficit to three, 14-11, with 12:52 left before the break.

The Violets came back with four in a row before Case went on a 10-2 run and grabbed its first lead of the contest, 21-20, with 7:15 left on the clock Chung knocked down a three. The Spartans then outscored the Violets 9-4 over the next three minutes thanks in part to two more Chung threes and eventually went up by as many as nine, 35-26 and later 37-28. In the final 60 seconds of the period, NYU was able to trim its deficit to six, 37-31.

In the second, the Spartans started slow, enabling the Violets to open on a 10-2 run that gave the visitors a 41-39 lead when Carl Yaffe hit a jumper at 15:33. Case briefly tied the score at 41-41, but NYU came right back with eight in a row as part of 13-4 run that made the score 54-45 as Yaffe nailed a triple with 11:46 left to play.

Undaunted, the Spartans rallied with a 15-2 run and led 61-56 when McLoughlin hit a layup with 6:54 remaining on the clock. During the spurt, Chung hit a key triple that tied the game at 56-56 at 8:09, and McLoughlin connected on a three to give Case the five-point edge.

Leading by one, the home team put the game away with a quick 6-0 spurt that ended in a Fowler jumper that took the score to 67-60 with 2:32 remaining.

For the game, the Spartans committed only six turnovers while forcing 15 for NYU.

Stockmal led all scorers with 20 points for NYU, while Yaffe and Devin Karch each tallied 12.

Following Sunday's game against Brandeis, the Spartans head out for a two-game road trip in Atlanta and Rochester next Friday and Sunday, February 15-17.