Fresh off a 14-point win over Carnegie Mellon on Friday, the University of Rochester men's basketball swept its University Athletic Association (UAA) weekend with a 97-88 win over the Case Western Reserve University Spartans on a snowy Sunday afternoon inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
Corvin Oprea got the Yellowjackets on the scoreboard first with the first of his four made triples, but an 11-0 Spartan run over the next 2:27 gave CWRU the lead. Alex Vincent broke the seal for the Spartans, while Matthew Ellis' layup gave Case Western Reserve its first lead of the afternoon.
 
Seven points from Ethan Edwards later, the Spartans held an 11-3 lead just over three minutes into the first, but back-to-back Oprea threes quickly cut the deficit down to two.
 
Another Edwards bucket, as well as Shayam Patel's three just shy of the 14-and-a-half-minute mark, pushed the advantage back up to six, but another six points, all coming from Theo Murray on a three-point play and three-pointer, made it a one-point game, 16-15, with 13:34 left in the first.
 
Again, though, the Spartans answered back with a run, extending their lead out to its largest of the afternoon, 26-15, with a 10-0 run over the next 1:21. Two free throws from Anand Dharmarajan got CWRU's offense going, before the senior knocked down back-to-back threes to give the Spartans an 11-point lead just shy of the 12-minute mark.
 
However, the 'Jackets would lock down on defense over the next four minutes and go on a 17-3 run to take the lead, holding the Spartans to just 1-for-7 from the field over the stretch while forcing a trio of turnovers. Four-straight points from Jordan Owusu cut CWRU's lead back down to single digits, while Oprea's steal and score made it a five-point game with 11:22 to play in the first half.
 
Then, after Andrew Fox went 1-for-2 at the line, Owusu and Aaron Rucker matched buckets, while Owusu's tip-in with 8:46 remaining cut the Spartans' lead to three. After another empty trip down the floor, John Mayhew sank two free throws to pull Rochester within one, 29-28, while back-to-back layups from Bernard Dushie Jr. gave Rochester the lead.
 
Anestis Hadjistamoul quickly tied it with a three, while layups from Dushie Jr. and Ellis again leveled the score, this time at 34-all with 6:34 until the halftime buzzer. CWRU would briefly retake the lead after an Owusu triple, with layups from Logan Brown and Edwards putting Case Western Reserve up one, but six-in-a-row from Oprea gave Rochester a 43-38 advantage.
 
The Yellowjackets would take a 46-42 lead into the halftime break, but with nine of the first 12 points of the second half, the Spartans would retake the lead, one of eight lead changes on the afternoon.
 
Back-to-back buckets by Vincent down low tied the score at 46, while five points from Ellis gave CWRU a 51-49 advantage. Mayhew and Ellis then traded triples to keep the Spartans up a pair before a pair of technical fouls sent Oprea to the free-throw line, where he made 3-of-4.
 
Now leading by one, the Yellowjackets got on a run, outscoring the Spartans, 10-2, over the next four minutes. Layups from Oprea and Mayhew put URochester up seven, while back-to-back tip-ins off offensive rebounds by Murray and Oprea extended the lead to nine with 13:01 remaining.
 
Rochester would take its first double-digit lead of the afternoon with 7:47 to play on Oprea's jumper, but a 7-0 CWRU run over the next two minutes brought the Spartans back within four.
 
Fox scored five straight, while Vincent's hook shot made it a four-point game just shy of the five-and-a-half-minute mark. But again, the 'Jackets' weathered the run, scoring the next four points on Oprea's coast-to-coast layup and two free throws by Tomiwa Adetosoye.
 
Then, leading by six with under four minutes left, Justin Odibo knocked down his first three of the day, and cashed a second one just over a minute later, while Oprea's three-point play with 2:44 left kept the Spartans from getting any closer.
 
Odibo's second three, after missing his 10, gave Rochester an 11-point lead with 2:06 to play, and the Yellowjackets would hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the 97-88 victory.
 
The win marks Rochester's first back-to-back wins in conference play since the 2022-23 campaign and moves the 'Jackets to 9-7 (2-3 UAA) on the year, while the Spartans fall to 8-8 (0-5 UAA) with the loss.
 
Oprea led all scorers with 36 points, one shy of his career-high, and a team-high 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Murray and Owusu joined Oprea in double figures with 14 and 13 points apiece, while Adetosoye finished with nine points and a team-high five assists and three blocks.
 
As a team, Rochester shot 39.2 percent (31-for-79) from the field and 9-for-29 from beyond the arc, while the Spartans shot 43.4 percent (33-for-76) and 9-for-30 from three. Both teams shot 20+ free throws, with URochester hitting 26-of-34, and CWRU knocking down 13-of-22.
 
The Yellowjackets are back on the road for their next UAA weekend, beginning their Midwest jaunt with a matchup against the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, on Friday, Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. CT.