Down by six and unable to stop the high-powered Case Western Reserve University offense, the Washington University men’s basketball team appeared willing to concede another defeat in what has been a difficult past three weeks for this historic program.

But then, they won.

The Bears would go on to secure the win 107-98 and snap their six-game losing streak. Along with Sunday’s 80-75 win over Carnegie Mellon University, the Bears improved 12-10 and finish the season 6-6 at home.

Claire Komyati | Student Life

Forward Andrew Sanders goes up for a lay up in the Bears’ game against Case Western. The Bears won as Sanders led the team with 16 rebounds.

After an emphatic dunk gave Case Western a six-point lead, the Bears jumped to a 93-87 lead thanks to a trio of threes from their guards and eight points from sophomore center David Schmelter. In just 23 minutes, Schmelter shattered his previous career-high of 16 points with 24 against Case Western. Additionally, he set a career-high with 13 rebounds.

The Red and Green also held the Spartans to 5-15 shooting over the final eight and a half minutes.

“We knew that in the first half we were turning the ball over, giving up a lot of easy layups,” Schmelter said. “I think we sat down in a time out and decided, ‘Hey we have to come out here and get a couple of stops on defense and then be composed and bring it down the floor and run our offense sharply.’”

In total, Wash. U. outscored the Spartans 33-17 in the final 8 1/2 minutes, while only committing one turnover.

The Bears did all this in front of a season-high 1,904 people, many on hand to celebrate the court dedication and the annual hall of fame night. A ceremony took place 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the game, and primarily honored men’s and women’s basketball coaches Mark Edwards and Nancy Fahey. Among those in attendance was the 1997-98 national champion women’s basketball team, who were inducted that night into the Bears Hall of Fame. Current athletic director, Josh Whitman, retired athletic director John Schael, Fahey and Edwards all spoke during the ceremony.

“It’s overwhelming,” Edwards said. “The naming of the court is one thing, but to see the outpouring of memories that were in the stands and the players that came back from all eras and former teammates, just the whole thing was overwhelming…I hope it wasn’t too big of a distraction for my guys—by that I mean there was a lot of pressure.”

Initially, the ceremony did not seem to have too much of an adverse effect. Although the start of the game was delayed by about 50 minutes, the Bears jumped out to a 11-2 lead in the opening two minutes, featuring eight points from Sanders. Overall, Sanders notched his eighth double-double this season with 17 points and 16 rebounds, while sophomore guard Kevin Kucera added his fifth straight game in double digits with 23 points and seven assists.

The Bears shot a season high 53.8 percent from the field and outrebounded their opponent for the first time since Jan. 17.

Against Carnegie Mellon, five Bears scored in double figures to lift the Bears to the five-point victory. Kucera added a team high 15 points and a game high seven assists while Sanders chipped in with another double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.

With the pair of victories, the Bears improve to 4-7 in the University Athletic Association with three conference games remaining. No Bear team has ever finished below 0.500 in UAA play, so if they want to avoid that record they will need to win out in their final three games.

Next weekend the Red and Green hit the road to square off against Brandeis University and New York University.