CLEVELAND, OH – University of Rochester men's basketball fell to the 13th-ranked Case Western Reserve University Spartans, 99-70, on Sunday afternoon inside Horsburgh Gymnasium. The loss drops the Yellowjackets to 10-14 (4-9 UAA) with one game left in the regular season, while the Spartans remain tied atop the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings at 20-4 (9-4 UAA).
 
The Yellowjackets and Spartans would trade baskets in the early going, with Corvin Oprea's three-pointer getting Rochester on the scoreboard just shy of the 18-minute mark of the first half. A quick 4-0 sput gave the Spartans an 8-5 lead just under five minutes into the frame, but UR answered with two baskets of their own, taking a 9-8 lead on Malachi Moore's layup with 14:33 left in the first half.
 
Rochester would take its largest lead of the afternoon on Ethan McEachern's triple following two free throws from Tomiwa Adetosoye at the 13:09 mark of the first, but the Spartans answered with an 11-0 run, scoring the next five buckets to take a 23-16 lead.
 
Peston Maccoux's three-pointer from Umar Rashid gave CWRU an eight-point lead with 10:45 left in the first, but the 'Jacket kept things close, pulling within four after Logan Jagodzinski scored two straight, and then made it a two-point game just over three minutes later as Jagodzinski went 2-for-2 at the line.
 
Colin Kahl answered with a layup to put the Spartans back up four, but Adetosoye hit another jumper, one of 11 first-half points for the sophomore, and Moore cashed in a pair of free throws to knot the score at 32-all with 4:33 remaining in the half.
 
Case Western Reserve scored the next seven though, with four coming from Anthony Mazzeo, to retake the lead, before Jagodzinski again made it a four-point game with his triple at the 2:21 mark of the first half.
 
Down the stretch, Mazzeo and the Spartans made it a nine-point lead with a 7-2 run, but Adetosoye and Wiele scored the final three points of the first half to send Rochester into the locker room down just six, 46-40.
 
Rochester would keep things close to start the second half, with six of their first eight second-half points coming from Adetosoye. The sophomore's layup from Andrew Jackson made it a three-point game with 16:41 to play, but that'd be as close as the 'Jackets would get the rest of the way.
 
The Spartans reeled off eight straight to pull ahead by 11, and while another Adetosoye bucket slowed CWRU's run, Mazzeo knocked down two more buckets as the Spartans made it a 66-52 lead with 11:51 remaining.
 
Jagodzinski's jumper and Wiele's dunk brought the deficit back down to 10, but Kahl notched the next six points for the Spartans, helping the lead remain at 12.
 
Down 72-60 with just over eight-and-a-half minutes to play, Oprea hit two free throws to make it a 10-point game, but once again, the Spartans went on a run, this time putting the game out of reach. A 9-0 Spartans' run stretched CWRU's lead out to 19 before an 11-2 stretch gave Case Western Reserve a 92-66 lead with just over three minutes to play.
 
Both sides would clear their benches over the final few minutes, as the Spartans finished off the 99-70 victory.
 
Adetosoye led the Yellowjackets with a career-high 25 points, shooting 10-for-18 from the floor, while Jagodzinski notched a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth of the year.
 
For CWRU, Mazzeo led a trio of Spartans scoring 20+ with 24 points, while Kahl added 20 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Both teams shot well from the floor, with Rochester shooting 41.3% while Case Western Reserve hit 37-of-68, good for a 54.4 percent clip, but the Spartans hit nine three and 16-of-23 from the free-throw line, compared to just four triples for UR and 14-of-22 from the free-throw line.
 
The 'Jackets will wrap up the regular season next Friday, Feb. 23 with a matchup against the Emory University Eagles in Atlanta, GA at 7:30 p.m.