GRANVILLE, Ohio – Despite a double-double from senior forward Dane McLoughlin (Westerville, Ohio/St. Charles Preparatory), the Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season by a score of 87-74 at Denison University on Tuesday at Livingston Gymnasium.

The Spartans fall to 3-1, while the Big Red moves to 3-0 for the first time since 1992.

McLoughlin scored 17 points and grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds for his fifth career double-double. Freshman forward Eric Black (Avon Lake, Ohio/Saint Ignatius) was the only other Spartan in double-figures with 11 points.

David Meurer tallied a career-high 28 points for Denison, and Bret Woolard added 18 points and eight rebounds off of the bench.

Inside play was the difference in the game as the Big Red held decided advantages in rebounding (44-26) and points in the paint (42-20).

The Spartans led by nine on three occasions in the first half, the last coming at 22-13 when senior guard Julien Person (Paris, France/Second Baptist, Texas) hit two free throws with 11:43 on the clock. Denison answered with a 15-7 run and pulled to within 29-28 on a Patrick Keller jumper at 6:56, but CWRU was eventually able to get into the locker room ahead, 42-41.

In the second, Denison scored the first five and never trailed again. Meurer hit a layup to make the score 55-45 with 14:39 remaining, and Woolard connected on two free throws to increase the advantage to a high of 15, 64-49, with 11:53 left to play.

The Spartans battled back once more with a 16-3 run ending in a McLoughlin three-pointer at 7:34, but with the score at 67-65, the hosts scored five in a row en route to rebuilding their lead to double-figures.

CWRU is back in action this Saturday and Sunday, November 29-30, at the CMU Doubletree Invitational in Pittsburgh. The Spartans open the weekend against Penn State Beaver at 1:00 p.m. at Carnegie Mellon University's Skibo Gymnasium.