After struggling over the course of the last two weeks, the Maroons had a huge weekend, racking up two wins at home against UAA competition to break their four-game losing streak. The Maroons’ offense was explosive, tallying 94 points against Carnegie Mellon (9–13, 2–9 UAA) and 89 points against Case Western Reserve (10–12, 3–8 UAA).
The Maroons improved to 16–6 overall with a 7–4 conference record, putting them in fourth place in the UAA. After losing four straight UAA games, the team is fighting back in hopes of a potential NCAA tournament bid.
“It was an exciting weekend for the team. We shot the ball really well and we were able to get two wins and make up some ground in the UAA,” second-year guard Jake Fenlon said.
In the first game of the weekend, Chicago took down the Carnegie Mellon Tartans 94–59. With the scored tied at 27, third-year point guard Tyler Howard made two free throws to take the lead and spur an 11–0 run to close out the first half. Howard finished the game with 20 points and seven assists.
The South Siders ended the game with a plus-20 rebound margin, led by second-year forward Collin Barthel, who grabbed 10 rebounds of his own.
The story of the day, however, was the Maroons tying the school record of 17 three-pointers in a single game. Fenlon came off the bench to hit five behind the arc. Collectively, the squad shot 51.5 percent from deep.
The offense stayed hot against Case Western, beating the Spartans 89–72. After jumping out to a quick 17–8 lead, the Maroons went into halftime up 50–36 and never looked back. This time, fourth-year guard Jordan Smith led the offense with 22 points and six rebounds.
Fenlon hit another five three-pointers against the Spartans, scoring 15 points for the second consecutive game.
“I’m glad I was able to shoot well, but it really just shows how much the offense is clicking— guys like Tyler and Jordan are finding ways for the team to score,” Fenlon said.
With such big leads, the squad was able to utilize more of its depth. First-year guard Noah Karras scored eight points coming off the bench Friday night against Carnegie Mellon.
“It shows how well the team is playing that we are getting more guys into games,” first-year forward Ryan Jacobsen said. “Noah had a big night and now Max [Jacobs] is pushing Tyler at point-guard.”
Max Jacobs, another first-year guard, got increased playing time behind Howard due to backup guard Scott Herlihy suffering a concussion on Friday. Jacobs saw his playing time increase from 10 minutes against Carnegie Mellon to 17 minutes against Case Western.
The Maroons’ next game is at NYU this Friday at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. EST) followed by their game against Brandeis on Sunday at 10 a.m. (11 a.m. EST)
