CLEVELAND, Ohio (Dec. 14) – Senior forward Ricky Radtke poured in 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to help the Denison University men's basketball team to an 80-72 road win over host Case Western Reserve University in non-conference play Saturday at Horsburgh Gymnasium in Cleveland. 
 
The Big Red used a fast start to build a double-digit lead by halftime. Denison was then able to use a strong finish to hold off a hard-charging CWRU team, who found itself offensively in the second half. 
 
Sophomore forward Trevor Reed had the hot hand in the first half. Reed finished with a season-high 17 points. Senior guard Darren Rubin and senior guard Tyler Miller scored 11 points apiece to put four members of the Big Red in double figures scoring. 
 
A hot-shooting Reed was able to stake the Big Red to an early 8-0 lead. A pair of three-point field goals sandwiched a layup during the opening two minutes of play. Four minutes later, a three-pointer by sophomore guard Jack Steinbach and a jumper by senior guard Scotty Dean stretched the advantage into double digits, as Denison led 17-7 at the 13:56 mark. 
 
CWRU trimmed the deficit to eight points with a jumper at the 6:23 mark. However, Denison countered with seven-straight points. Senior guard Cameron Smith opened the run with a triple before Miller and Radtke tacked on back-to-back field goals. That spurt swelled the Denison lead to 36-21 at the 4:29 mark. Reed finished the first half scoring with a hook shot to make the lead 40-27 at halftime. 
 
Denison continued its strong play early in the second half. Five-straight points, four of which came from Radtke, gave the Big Red its largest lead of the game at 18. The Big Red held a 47-29 lead at the 15:57 mark before CWRU found life offensively to make a run at things. 
 
Following a pair of free throws by Rubin that put the score at 52-34, CWRU ripped off 11-straight points to cut the deficit into single digits.
 
Denison was able to momentarily slow the CWRU run with an old-fashioned three-point play by Radtke, which put the score at 57-48 with 11:02 remaining. Following another Radtke layup at the 8:38 mark, the Spartans ripped off nine-straight points, including a three-pointer to pull within a single point. 
 
The Big Red showed some resiliency, answering with an 8-0 run to rebuild a comfortable advantage. Radtke tallied the final six points of the run, which put the lead at 69-60 with 4:01 remaining. Denison led by at least two possessions for the remainder of the game as they finished off the road victory.  
 
Denison held advantages in rebounds (42-34), bench points (18-12) and paint points (32-26). 
 
The Big Red scored 40 points in each half. A near perfect effort at the free throw line (17-19) in the second half was able to help Denison preserve its lead. 
 
The win improves Denison to 7-1 overall. The loss drops CWRU to 4-5 overall. Sam Trunley paced the Spartans with 24 points. 

Up Next: Denison is off from game action until they head to the Smokey Ballenger Classic at Otterbein University on Dec. 29-30. The Big Red will face Hanover and Olivet at the annual event in Westerville.