Three different Case Western Reserve University players recorded at least 20 points to lead the Spartans past a resilient Adrian College squad 98-90 on Saturday afternoon in Adrian, Michigan. With the win, CWRU improved to 8-1 overall, marking the best start to a season through nine games in the program's history.

The win was the eighth-straight victory for the Spartans, matching the second longest winning streak in team history. The only longer stretch of wins by a Spartan team was a 10-game streak during the 1971-72 campaign.

Adrian dropped to 1-7 following the loss.

Graduate student guard Mitch Prendergast led all scorers in the game with a career-high 26 points, shooting 10-of-19 overall and four-of-nine from behind the three-point line, while adding four rebounds and four assists. Junior forward Cole Frilling narrowly missed out on a double-double, finishing the game with 20 points and nine rebounds, while also setting a school single-game record with seven steals, eclipsing former Spartan Michael Hollis' previous record mark by one. Senior guard Robert Faller added 20 points, six rebounds and two blocks, while making 12-of-13 free throw attempts.

As a team, the Spartans success from the free throw line proved to be a key for the victory, as the team shot 87.5% (28-of-32) from the charity stripe in the game. Included in the team's overall total was a 13-of-14 mark (92.9%) from the line during the opening period, which helped the Spartans' overcome a slow shooting start, especially from long range. The score remained within a possession for a good part of the first half, but, with the game tied at 32-32 with 3:46 left in the period, CWRU scored 10 of the final 15 points of the half (including four points apiece for Prendergast and sophomore forward Hunter Drenth) to take a five-point lead, 42-37, into the break.

The Spartans built their lead up to seven on a layup by graduate student forward Brian Hines with 18:02 to play in the game that made the score 48-41, and held an eight-point lead, 66-58, on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Luke Thorburn with 12:30 remaining. However, the Bulldogs would not fade away, and battled back to take a one-point lead, 74-73, on a three with 8:56 left. Down two points, 79-77, with 7:05 to go, a layup by graduate student guard Griffin Kornaker knotted the score and started an 8-2 run for CWRU over the next two minutes that put the Spartans back ahead 85-81. The Spartans never trailed again in the game and built their lead back up to as many as eight points down the stretch of the contest.

CWRU shot 56.3% overall in the second half of the game and made five-of-12 shots from behind the arc, finishing the contest shooting 49.2% overall and 28.6% from three-point range.

The Spartans will be off until Friday, December 17, when the team will host Kalamazoo College at 2:00 p.m. inside Horsburgh Gymnasium.