Theo Rocca Nets Career-High As WashU Bests CWRU
The No. 13 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team reached 100 as the Bears defeated Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) 100-93 on Sunday afternoon.
The win puts the Bears at 11-3 overall with a 1-2 mark in UAA play while the Spartans fall to 0-3 in conference action.
First-year Theo Rocca hit a new career high, pouring in 19 points in as many minutes to lead the Bears. Junior Ryan Cohen netted 17 points including 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Senior Yogi Oliff scored 16 points, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and dished out a team-best six assists. Sophomores Connor May scored 14 points and had six rebounds and sophomore Anthony Przybilla scored 14 with five rebounds.
It didn't take long for the Bears to get hot, going up by 14 points less than five minutes in.
At 18:25, May started a 13-0 run for WashU with a jumper and senior Calvin Kapral followed with a jumper, was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw. May drilled a 3-pointer and Kapral had another and-one play. May closed out the run with a jumper, making it a 16-2 game at the 15:48 mark.
The Bears maintained the double-digit lead for the entirety of the first half, eventually closing the half out with a steal from Rocca and a dunk from Przybilla, giving WashU a 20-point, 45-25 lead at the break.
CWRU came out to score the first four points of the second half, cutting WashU's lead to 16, 45-29 in the opening minutes. The teams exchanged baskets but back-to-back buckets from Oliff and Rocca extended it back to 20 points with just over 16 minutes on the clock.
A 3-pointer from Oliff and a free throw from May extended it to 22 points, 55-33. At the 15:00 mark and another 3-pointer from Rocca made it 24 points, 58-34.
The Spartans went on a 10-0 run over the next 32 seconds, cutting WashU's lead to 14 points, 58-44, at 13:41. WashU responded with a 3-pointer from Cohen and from there, the teams exchanged baskets with the Bears still holding a commanding lead.
With 7:41 remaining, a pair of free throws from CWRU Ethan Edwards made it a 10-point game, 72-62, and the Spartans eventually broke double-digits just over a minute later when an and-one play from Logan Brown cut it to eight points, 74-67 at 6:36.
Back-to-back free throws from Oliff and Cohen pushed it back to a 13-point, 80-67 lead with 5:42 remaining.
CWRU brought it back down to single-digits several times, including a seven-point gap with just 2:42 remaining. The Bears continued to return to a double-digit lead until three free throws from Edwards at the 31-second mark made it a 97-90 game.
Following a layup from May, Edwards hit a 3-pointer for the Spartans, making it a five-point, 98-93 game with 23 seconds on the clock.
With 14 seconds remaining, Rocca hit a layup to close out the game with a WashU win.
The Bears shot 29-for-57 (50.9%) including 10-for-23 (43.5%) from 3-point range. On the boards, CWRU had the 43-41 edge.