Case Western Reserve University graduate student forward Colin Kahl's layup with seven seconds left on Sunday proved to be the difference maker in a 75-73 win for the second-ranked Spartans over the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

The win was the fourth straight for the Spartans, who improved to 15-1 overall and to 4-1 in the University Athletic Association. The victory, combined with Carnegie Mellon's loss at Emory on Sunday, gave the Spartans sole possession of first place in the conference standings. Rochester fell to 8-8 overall with a 2-3 UAA ledger following the loss.

CWRU junior guard Sam Trunley came off the bench to lead all scorers for the second-straight game, finishing the contest with 23 points on a six-of-13 shooting effort overall, including three-of-seven from long range, and went a perfect eight-for-eight from the free throw line. It was his third game of 20 or more points this season. Trunley added four rebounds, three assists, and two steals on Sunday.

Junior forward Umar Rashid recorded his fourth double-double of the season, finishing the game with 14 points and 12 rebounds, along with a pair of assists, one block, and a career-high four steals. Graduate student guard Anthony Mazzeo added 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists on Sunday.

The Spartans never trailed in the second half but found themselves tied with the Yellowjackets 73-73 with just over a minute left to play. After a miss on a three-point attempt by Trunley with 1:04 left, Rochester turned the ball over with 35 seconds left on their ensuing possession. With seven seconds left in the game, Mazzeo drove to the hoop before dishing off to Kahl, who had an open layup to give CWRU the lead back. Rochester had one final chance to either tie or take the lead, but a desperation three at the buzzer missed the mark, giving the Spartans the victory.

The game-winning basket allowed Kahl to finish with nine points on three-of-four shooting overall and three-of-four from the free throw line.

CWRU led by as many as seven points during a closely-played first half, taking a 19-12 lead with 12:31 to play in the opening period after a three by graduate student guard Preston Maccoux. However, Rochester eventually tied the game at 27-27 with 6:55 left and took a five-point lead, 40-35, with 1:53 left in the first half. The Spartans responded though, scoring the final six points of the half and taking a 41-40 lead into halftime after a putback from senior forward Ian Elam with 14 seconds remaining in the half.

CWRU scored 17 of the first 21 points of the second half, including a 12-0 run capped off by an and-one from Mazzeo to put the Spartans ahead by a game-high 14 points, 58-44, with 11:23 left. From that point forward, the Yellowjackets slowly chipped away at the CWRU lead, eventually pulling even for the first time in the frame at 65-65 with 5:01 left. It marked the first of five ties over the final five minutes between the two teams, as the Spartans could not take more than a two-point lead the rest of the way. However, CWRU ultimately pulled out the win on Kahl's tie-breaking basket on the team's final possession.

The Spartans finished the game shooting 44.4% overall (24-54), 29.2% from three-point range (7-24), and 83.3% from the free throw line (20-24).

Sunday's win gave the Spartans their first-ever sweep of the Emory-Rochester road weekend since the two teams became travel partners in the 2009-10 season. It was CWRU's first road win over Rochester since the 2016-17 campaign.

The Spartans will conclude their four-game UAA road swing next weekend when the team travels to Chicago to take on the University of Chicago on Friday night and to St. Louis for a Sunday matchup against 14th-ranked Washington University (Mo.).