Senior Drake Kindsvater scored a total of 33 points over the course of the weekend (Sam Powers | Managing Photo Editor)

The No. 19 WashU men’s basketball took to the road to end their three-game losing streak, defeating both Case Western Reserve University 86-68 and Carnegie Mellon University 78-54 on Feb. 14 and 16. The Bears are now 17-6 overall and 7-4 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play.

After remaining 0-0 for the first three minutes of the game against Case Western, senior Drake Kindsvater put WashU on the scoreboard with a foul shot. A few minutes later, the Spartans hit a 3-pointer. WashU tried to respond, but none of their shots seemed to be landing until sophomore Ryan Cohen scored a 3-pointer over five minutes into the game to make the scoreboard show 4-3. First-year Connor May, who would go on to lead the team in baskets with a career-best of 22 points, made the next nine points for the Bears. But as WashU continued to sink more shots, Case Western remained close in the game. 

At halftime, the Bears led 32-31. Despite only making three out of 16 3-pointers, the Bears were able to stay in the game due to their 23 rebounds to the Spartans’ 14. 

“What we talked about in the locker room was definitely just getting stops,” May said. “We felt conf

ident in what we were doing offensively, we were moving the ball, sharing it with one another, but I think it really needed to be on the defensive end, and that’s just us playing together. That’s us trusting one another, being there for each other, and we just wanted to lock in defensively and play as one in the second half, and that’s what we did.”

While the first basket of the second half was made by Case Western, WashU responded with a 7-0 run. Showcasing an increase in quantity and quality of defensive stops, the Bears were up 49-38, taking their biggest lead of the game yet, just over seven minutes into the half. Seven minutes after that, the Bears were leading 67-47. 

“In the first half, with our lack of stops, it was harder to manufacture stuff on offense,” May said. “But in the second half, once we started getting stops [and] rebounding defensively, that’s when we really started to push our lead, and that’s how we were able to build on it.” 

In the last five minutes of the game, Case Western turned up the pressure, but not enough to stop WashU. With a total of 47 rebounds, 27 second-chance points, and nine points off of turnovers, the Bears were able to manufacture success and terminate their three-game losing streak with a 86-68 victory on the road against the Spartans. 

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the game against Carnegie Mellon also remained close for the majority of the first half. The Bears led 11-9 eight minutes into the game, but then the Tartans went on a 9-0 run, taking the lead. 

Layups by Kindsvater and junior Calvin Kapral decreased the Tartans’ lead to 18-15 and the Bears would not be down by more than five for the rest of the half. At halftime, the Bears led 27-25.

“Both games did have a similar rhythm to them in the fact that the first halves were lower scoring,” head coach Pat Juckem said. “The one thing I’d say in both games is that when we met at halftime, we really liked the quality of our shots we were getting. If you’re getting really good shots and [have] good shooters shooting open shots, that’s all you can ask for. And I think our guys, our coaching staff and our players were confident that if we continue[d] to create those quality shots … the odds [were] that [we were] going to make enough of them.” 

In the second half, the Bears successfully took a strong and stable lead, never allowing the Tartans to be ahead. Less than seven minutes into the half, WashU was up 45-36, matching the biggest lead Carnegie Mellon took in the first half. The Bears’ lead soon turned to double digits.

The Bears’ success after halftime was largely fueled by a 20% increase in their field goal percentage from the first half, as well as making twice as many 2- and 3-point shots as the Tartans in the second half.

WashU went on to defeat Carnegie Mellon 78-54, with 51 rebounds to the Tartans’ 23 and 29 second-chance shots to the Tartans’ four. 

“Our guys were very active defensively,” Juckem said. “We were getting a lot of deflections. We kind of brought that back as a renewed focus. In both games, we manufactured good shots right away in the second half, made a couple of them, you know, able to start to separate a little bit, continue to continue to defend and rebound.”

Next week in St. Louis, the Bears will face University of Rochester on Feb. 21 for the Black History Month game and No. 5 Emory University on Feb. 23 for Senior Day, honoring Kindsvater, Hayden Doyle and Kyle Beedon, who’s been injured this season. 

“It’s crazy that we’re already at that final home weekend, but after being gone for two weekends, we’re excited to be back home and playing in front of our fans, in front of the students, and playing in meaningful games,” Juckem said. “Sunday is our senior day. We’ll honor our three seniors, Hayden Doyle, Drake Kindsvater and Kyle Beedon … Those are guys that have obviously been really, really impactful to our program.”

These games will not only be the last home match-ups of the regular season for men’s basketball, but also critical games to determine WashU’s placement in the NCAA Division III tournament bracket, which will be released on March 3. 

“We get 25 opportunities, 25 finite opportunities, and we’re going to focus on that,” Juckem said. “We’re not going to look ahead. And our guys know, if we take care of our business, that opportunity should present itself, but we’ve got a huge game coming up on Friday. So that’s where our focus needs to be.”