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| University of Chicago athletics file photo |
Thomas Kurowski scored a team-high 17 points and Eamonn Kenah added 15 as the University of Chicago men's basketball team improved to 10-2, defeating No. 5 Washington University in St. Louis 71-66 in the teams' University Athletic Association opener. The victorious Maroons limited the Bears to 4-for-16 shooting from three-point range on the afternooon, including 0-for-9 from beyond the arc in the first half.
After the game was postponed from Saturday, the Bears had a slow start, falling behind 10-0 in the first four minutes as Thomas Kurowski and Joe Berry scored four apiece for the Maroons. Jackson Piotrowski followed a Wash U missed layup by hitting a three-pointer to make it 18-9 midway through the half before the Bears cut it to 18-13, the closest it would get before halftime. Chicago led by as many as 11 in the first half before Wash U closed on a mini-spurt to make it 34-28 at the half.
The Bears got as close as four on multiple occasions early in the first half but could not get the defensive stop they needed in order to make it a one-possession game. Chicago put together a 7-0 run capped by a Kurowski layup to make the margin 11 once again, at 62-51, before the Bears answered with eight consecutive points to make it 62-59 with 3:27 to play. The spurt started with a three-pointer from Hayden Doyle, then Drake Kindsvater hit the second of a pair of free throws while Connor May and George Gale put in back-to-back buckets. The Maroons, however, made three of their four remaining field goal attempts down the stretch, and Daniel Cochran hit two free throws with eight seconds left to put the game away.
The win is the seventh in a row for Chicago since an 80-74 home loss to Illinois Wesleyan on Nov. 27.