The Case Western Reserve University men's basketball team, ranked 21^st in Division III, made history on Sunday afternoon, defeating the University of Chicago 76-67 in Chicago, Illinois to clinch the first-ever University Athletic Association Championship in program history.

Sunday's win raised the Spartans' UAA record to 10-3 on the year, as the team maintained a one-game lead over #22 WashU in the conference standings with one game left to play. CWRU also became the first team in Division III to punch its ticket to the 2023 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, holding a potential tiebreaker over the Bears for the automatic bid after sweeping the season series between the two teams. CWRU improved to 20-3 overall, matching the program record for wins in a season, set by last year's squad.

The Spartans have now won eight-straight UAA games, the longest conference-winning streak in program history. CWRU will be making its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance after having qualified for the first time in team history last year.

The CWRU win was powered by sophomore forward Umar Rashid, who came off the bench to score a career-high 26 points on Sunday, leading all players in the game. Rashid made eight-of-14 shots overall and connected on a career-high seven threes on 10 tries, one made three short of the school single-game record. Rashid added seven rebounds, an assist, and a steal in the game.

Graduate student guard Danny Frauenheim added 15 points, four assists, and two steals, and sophomore guard Sam Trunley came off the bench to score 12 points with a career-high seven rebounds.

The Spartans bench accounted for 26 points during the first half to help CWRU take a 37-33 lead into the break. Rashid led the way with 14 points over the first 20 minutes, connecting on four-of-six three-point tries and five-of-eight shots overall. Trunley added seven points and junior guard Daniel Florey notched five during the frame. CWRU never trailed in the first half and led from the 16:31 mark on. Threes on back-to-back possessions by Trunley and Rashid gave CWRU a 36-25 lead with 4:08 to play in the stanza, the team's largest lead of the half, but the Maroons trimmed the Spartan advantage to just four points by halftime.

Chicago opened the second half on a 10-2 run to go ahead early in the period and maintained a lead for most of the second half, although never by more than five points. The Spartans were down 56-51 with 7:55 to play and trailed 61-58 with 3:45 to go before Rashid tied the game at 61-61 with his sixth three of the contest with 3:33 left to play. After a Chicago miss, Rashid hit his seventh three-point shot of the game with 2:59 remaining to give CWRU a 64-61 lead, and the Spartans never trailed again. Frauenheim connected on a pair of layups to extend the Spartans' lead by four more points, as the Spartans used a 14-0 run stretching into the final minute of the game to put the game out of reach and lock up the UAA Championship.

CWRU finished the game shooting 37.9% overall compared to 42.1% for the Maroons, but held a distinct advantage on three-point attempts, connecting on 12-of-32 tries (37.5%) to eight-of-24 (33.3%) for Chicago. CWRU also forced 14 Chicago turnovers and held a 17-5 edge in points off turnovers. The Spartans' bench outscored the Maroons' reserves 43-23 during the game.

The Spartans will conclude their 2022-23 regular season next weekend, traveling to Pittsburgh on Saturday, February 25 to face Carnegie Mellon University. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.