CLEVELAND – Sophomore guard Julien Person (Houston, Texas/Second Baptist) scored 10 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds as the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team won its second-straight University Athletic Association game by a score of 56-47 versus Brandeis University (Mass.) in Sunday matinee action at Horsburgh Gymnasium.
The Spartans even their overall record at 11-11 and improve to 4-7 in the UAA with their first back-to-back conference wins this season. With the loss, the Judges (16-6, 7-4 UAA) drop their fourth in seven games.
Person's first career double-double was accompanied by a pair of blocked shots. Senior forward Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, Mich. /Birmingham Brother Rice) and sophomore forward Dane McLoughlin (Westerville, Ohio/St. Charles Preparatory) also scored in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
In the first half, the Judges jumped out to a 7-4 lead on a jumper from Gabriel Moton at the 17:41 mark. The lead grew to six, 10-4, via a three-point play by Youri Dascy at 15:34, but the Spartans rode seven straight from McLoughlin then took their first lead of the contest, 16-14, on a layup from Person with 9:08 left on the clock.
The Spartan lead grew to as many as 10, 26-16, when Person capped a 19-4 run with a jumper at 3:04, but the Judges cut the deficit to eight with the final bucket of the half. Overall, the Spartan defense limited Brandeis to just 26 percent on 8-of-31 shooting from the field in the opening period.
In the second half, the Spartans opened on a 10-4 run to push their lead to 14, 36-22, after two free throws from Fowler with 16:22 remaining. Brandeis came back with an 8-2 run of its own to cut the deficit to eight (38-30) with 12:20 left, but the Spartans restored order by scoring five straight to push the lead back to 13, 43-30, as sophomore guard Jordan Dean (St. Johns, Fla. /Creekside) hit a wide open three with 9:38 left to play. Case's largest lead, 22, came after McLoughlin hit a free throw to make the score 56-34 with 2:47 left on the clock. Once the Spartans emptied the bench, Brandeis scored 12 in a row to make the final 56-47.
For the game, the Spartans held Brandeis to just 29.5% (18-of-61) shooting from the field. The Judges were led individually by Youri Dascy and Gabriel Moton with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
The Spartans leave town for the final road trip of the season beginning at Emory University (Ga.) on Friday, February 15 at 8:00 p.m. in Atlanta. Case closes the trip at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) on Sunday, Feb. 17.