ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 11 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team defeated (RV) Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) 104-66 on Friday evening at the Field House. The Bears are now 11-2 with a 1-1 mark in UAA play.
 
Six players reached double-figures for the Bears, led by senior Drake Kindsvater with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Hayden Doyle netted 13 points with three rebounds and two assists and junior Will Grudzinski scored 12 points with four rebounds and three assists.
 
First-year Connor May scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds while sophomore George Gale scored 10 points and pulled down nine boards and first-year Lleyton Thomas-Johnson had 10 points with two rebounds.
 
The Bears and the Spartans started things off by exchanging baskets, with the game tied at 2-2, 5-5 and 7-7. A jumper from Kindsvater followed by a jumper from Doyle put the Bears ahead 11-7 with 14:58 on the clock.
 
Over the next several minutes, WashU maintained a small lead. Up two points, sophomore Emmett Lawton hit a layup and Gale grabbed a defensive rebound and took it the other way for a layup to put the Bears ahead six points, 17-11.
 
The Bears began to open up their lead midway through the first half. Grudzinski hit a pair of free throws and Doyle hit a jumper. Kindsvater followed with an offensive putback and Gale netted a layup for WashU's first double-digit lead of the game, 27-17.
 
Following a CWRU bucket, Kindsvater put in a layup on a Lawton assist and Grudzinski drove in for two, putting WashU ahead 31-19 with 6:14 on the clock.
 
With 2:44 remaining, Grudzinski drained a 3-pointer on an assist from sophomore Jake Davis and May followed with another shot from distance, bumping the Bears' lead to 43-26.
 
Kindsvater closed out the half with another 3-pointer on a Doyle assist for a 46-28 halftime lead.
 
WashU's lead tipped past 20 points in the opening minutes of the second half, following a layup from junior Calvin Kapral and a pair of buckets from Doyle, making it a 53-33 game. Doyle's two baskets started an 11-0 run for the Bears.
 
Doyle hit another jumper and Gale had an offensive putback. Kindsvater netted the backend of a pair of free throws and May drained a 3-pointer for a 61-33 Bears' lead with 14:49 on the clock.
 
Following a CWRU 3-pointer, sophomore Ryan Cohen hit a 3-pointer and Lawton laid one on. Kindsvater was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound, hitting both free throws. May's offensive tip-in made it 70-36 with 12:35 remaining.
 
The Bears put on an offensive show as the clock ticked down, seeing dunks from Gale, Thomas-Johnson and first-year Yusuf Cisse. Gale slammed the first one home on an assist from Lawton at the 9:22 mark.
 
Doyle followed the dunk with a jumper and Cohen drained a shot from distance for an 82-51 lead with 7:36 remaining. Lawton netted another shot from behind the arc at 6:13 and Thomas-Johnson slammed one home at 5:47 for an 87-52 lead.
 
First-year Anthony Pryzbilla scored his first collegiate points on a pair of free throws at the 3:35 mark and put in a layup in the final two minutes. Cisse slammed it home on an assist from Thomas-Johnson with 1:16 remaining. Thomas-Johnson netted the final points of the game with 22 seconds left, giving the Bears the 104-66 win.
 
As a team, WashU shot 40-for-69 (58.0%) from the floor and 9-for-19 (47.4%) from 3-point range. The Bears outrebounded the Spartans 47-19.
 
WashU is back in action on Sunday afternoon with a 1 p.m. game against Carnegie Mellon.