This weekend, the UChicago men’s basketball team played against Carnegie Mellon University and Case Western Reserve University. Both games were close, with the Maroons coming out on top against Carnegie Mellon with a score of 66–64, but losing to Case Western 78–73. UChicago now has a record of 7–9, with a 3–2 record in the UAA conference.

The beginning of the Carnegie game had no clear leader, but third-year Ryan Jacobsen began the Maroons’ forward surge with an and-one layup. This was followed by two three-pointers from third-year Noah Karras and another layup by Jacobsen, giving UChicago a 22–13 lead. Jacobsen and Karras were unstoppable throughout the first half, with Jacobsen scoring 15 points and grabbing six rebounds, and Karras adding eight points of his own to give UChicago a strong 33–26 advantage going into halftime.

Carnegie started the second half strong, eventually tying the score at 55–55. A dunk and a free throw by fourth-year Jake Fenlon put UChicago back on track, helping create a lead of 64–57. Carnegie began another comeback, and the score was 64–61 when fourth-year Collin Barthel grabbed a rebound, and Fenlon made two free throws, raising the score to 66–61. In the last few seconds of the game, the opponents were in possession of the ball and were down by just two points. Second-year Jordan Baum stole the ball while the clock ran out, leaving the final score at 66–64. Jacobsen recorded a total of 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, both career bests, while Karras scored 11 points.

The game against Case Western began with the opponents pulling ahead, with UChicago losing 35–27 nearing the end of the first half. However, in the next four minutes before halftime, the Maroons made a huge comeback, scoring 14 more points while Case Western scored none. Fenlon helped immensely with back-to-back three-pointers, giving UChicago a six-point lead going into the second half.

Fenlon began the second half with another triple, but Case Western came back with a 13–3 run to even the playing field. After Karras made a three-pointer, the game was tied at 57–57, but double three-pointers by the opponents left UChicago in the dust for the remainder of the game. In the last minute of the game, Jacobsen’s layup brought the game to a close 76–73, but the opponents pulled farther ahead with a free throw to end the game at 78–73.

The men’s basketball team will play against Emory and Rochester next weekend. 

“Our team has improved a lot so far this year on the defensive end with both on ball defense and keeping teams off the offensive boards,” Baum said. “Emory and Rochester are both really good teams, and if we want to give ourselves a chance to win we are going to have to come out with the same energy we had against Wash U a couple weeks ago and be able to maintain it for 40 minutes. We have a tough stretch of games coming up and I think as a team we know that, in order to win these next couple of games, we are going to have to avoid mental mistakes by taking care of the ball and getting the best shot we can every possession.”