St. Louis, Mo., December 15, 2013 – The No. 10 ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team used a 15-2 run late in the contest and senior forward Chris Klimek recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Bears defeated Coe College 62-59 Sunday at the WU Field House in St. Louis.
Coe took a 54-46 lead with 6:00 to go after a three-pointer by Andrew Wirth, but the Bears scored 10-straight points in a span of 2:28 to get the lead back at 56-54. Senior guard Tim Cooney's three from the wing with 3:09 to play was his lone basket of the game and game WUSTL the two-point advantage.
The Kohawks answered back to tie the game at 56-56 with 2:32 to play after a lay-up by TJ Vonderhaar. Burt followed with a layup to make it 58-56, and then Washington U. sealed the game on the defensive end with a steal by senior Alan Aboona with 33 seconds lefts. Junior David Fatoki made 1-of-2 free-throws, but Klimek kept the play alive by tipping the miss to himself to keep possession. Aboona was fouled and drilled two free-throws to push the lead to 61-56.
After a timeout by Coe, Matt Daoust took advantage of an offensive rebound to nail a corner three to cut the lead to 61-59. Daoust fouled Aboona on the ensuing play with 4.8 seconds left, and he stepped to the line and made 1-of-2. Wirth's half-court shot was off the mark as Washington U. held on for the three-point win.
Klimek was 6-of-10 from the field and tied a career-best with five assists as he registered the 45th double figure game of his career. Aboona added 13 points, three assists and three steals in the win, while junior Nick Burt had 12 points and six rebounds. Fatoki tied his career-high with nine points off the bench, all in the second half.
Washington U. shot 38.3 percent (23-60) from the field in the win, including 46.2 percent (12-26) in the second half. The Bears were outrebounded for the second-straight game, 48-41, and hit just 9-of-20 from the foul line.
Both teams started slow shooting a combined 1-for-19 with six turnovers early in the contest as Washington U. held a 3-2 lead in the opening seven minutes of the game. Back-to-back jumpers by Burt pushed the advantage to 7-2, and then three-pointers by Aboona and junior Matt Palucki made it 13-6 with 10:16 to play.
Washington U. head coach Mark Edwards went deep into his bench playing 11 in the opening half as Cooney and Burt were in foul trouble. Aboona's second three-pointer of the half made it 23-18, but a lay-up by Vonderhaar and a three-pointer by Max Schmarzo tied the contest at 23-23 with 2:48 to play.
The Bears took a 27-25 lead to half despite shooting 32.4 percent (11-34) from the field and 2-of-8 from the foul line. Aboona had 10 points in the opening half for Washington U., who turned 11 turnovers by Coe into nine points. Vonderhaar had 10 points and seven boards for Coe, who was 1-for-8 three-point range and 0-for-4 from the free-throw line in the opening half.
Schmarzo (18 points), Vonderhaar (16 points, 12 rebounds), Daoust (11 points, six rebounds) and Wirth (10 points, four rebounds) all scored in double figures for Coe (4-2), which committed 17 turnovers in the loss. The Kohawks shot 37.7 percent (26-69) from the field and were 0-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Washington U. (6-2) will have 15 days off before returning to action with three games in a week - Dec. 30 at Fontbonne University, Jan. 2 vs. No. 22 Wheaton College and Jan. 4 vs. Webster University.
Bear Notebook: Klimek is one point shy of 800 for his career (799 points) … WUSTL has a 5-0 record at home in 2013-14, and an 85-11 (.885) record dating back to the 2006-07 season … The Bears have won four all-time meetings with Coe, and the teams met for the first time since 2007 … The Kohawks entered the game allowing 84.4 points per game, last in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and 370th in NCAA Division III … The Bears are 3-0 on Sundays this season and 5-0 when making more free-throws than their opponent.