The Washington University men’s basketball team jumped to number four in the D3Hoops.com Top-25 poll after convincing home victories last weekend against Emory University and Case Western Reserve University.

Wash. U. 85, Emory 63

The Bears extended their school-record winning streak to 23 games as sophomore guard Aaron Thompson tallied a career-high 22 points.

Wash. U. got off to a strong start with a 13-2 lead less than five minutes into the contest with powerful post play from senior forward Troy Ruths.

Thompson then took over. After nailing a jumper to extend the Bears lead to 30-18, the sophomore guard connected on three three-pointers to give Wash. U. a 39-21 advantage, leading to a 47-28 edge at the half.

The second half began with five unanswered Wash. U. points, and another Thompson three-pointer extended the Bears’ lead to 64-33 at the 14:25 mark to put the game out of reach. Thompson finished the contest 8-10 from the field and 6-8 from beyond the arc.

Sophomore guard Ross Kelly set a new career-high in assists (eight) and rebounds (six) as did senior Moss Schermerhorn with eight points.

Emory was led by sophomore guard Dan Curtin’s 19 points and dropped to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in UAA play after the loss.

Wash. U. 85, Case 57

The Bears recorded their tenth consecutive victory Sunday afternoon, topping Case Western Reserve 85-57. Ruths led all scorers with 25 points, including 17 in the second half.

The Spartans took an early 10-2 lead after Ruths sat on the bench with two quick fouls. After Ruths returned at the 10:21 mark, the Bears trimmed their deficit to 23-20. Junior guard Tyler Nading’s jumper with 1:45 remaining in the opening frame gave Wash. U. its first lead of the game at 28-27, and the team finished the half on a 9-0 run to take a 33-27 lead heading into the locker room.

The Bears continued their run into the second half, scoring 10 unanswered points to take a 43-27 advantage. A jumper by senior Daniel O’Boyle stretched the run to 39-4, with Wash. U. comfortably ahead 63-31.

Wash. U. connected on 95 percent of its free throws in the contest, shooting 19-20 to set a new school record. The team’s previous highest free-throw percentage in a game was 93.8 percent (15-16) against DePauw University in the 1986-1987 season.

With their 10-game winning streak on the line, the Bears (12-2, 3-0 UAA) head east for the weekend for the first half of a four game road trip. The Red and Green battle New York University Friday night and take on Brandeis University Sunday afternoon.

The battle against the Judges promises to be a thriller. The squad (12-2, 2-1 UAA) suffered their second loss of the season Jan. 20 at the hands of top-ranked University of Rochester and will be looking to topple their other highly-ranked UAA foe.

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