PHOTO GALLERY

GRANVILLE, Ohio (November 18, 2023) – The Denison University men's basketball team held a three-point lead in the final minute of regulation against the No. 13-nationally ranked team in NCAA Division III, but the Big Red could not hold on in the end as the Spartans spoiled Denison's home opener with an 80-74 win in overtime inside Livingston Gymnasium.

Case struck first in overtime with a putback on a missed 3-pointer from the corner a minute and a half in. Then down by three (74-71) after a free throw from Emmett Burnside with two minutes remaining, Denison got a steal but missed the tying 3-pointer by Scotty Dean.

The Spartans then made it a five-point game (76-71) with a tough midrange jumper with 1:12 left in the extra period.

The Big Red followed with back-to-back misses from 3-point range, and then after three missed layups in the final 36 seconds, a late 3-pointer by Cameron Smith was not going to be enough for the Big Red to get back into it.

Denison was only 1-for-12 from the field (8.3 percent) in overtime while the Spartans made three of their five attempts.

In the second half, both teams got into the bonus still with 13 minutes left to play, but it was Case who made 20 of their 27 attempts in the second half and overtime while Denison was just 10-for-22.

C. Smith led Denison with 13 points on three 3-pointers and added a game-high four assists while Trevor Reed scored 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field.

Both Ricky Radtke and Kellon Smith scored 10 points while Tyler Miller added nine.

There were seven lead changes in the first half with Denison taking a 34-31 lead at the break after a 3-pointer in the final minute of the opening half by Reed.

After a 3-pointer by Miller cut a six-point Denison deficit in half with 12 minutes left to play, Burnside tipped in his own miss, got fouled and sank the ensuing free throw to tie it at 50-50 with 10:33 remaining.

On the next Case possession, Denison's defensive pressure led to a steal by C. Smith, and after a block by the Spartans on C. Smith's layup attempt, Reed was able to trail the play for the offensive rebound and putback layup to make it 52-50 Big Red with 10 minutes left.

That was the ninth lead change of the game, and then the 13th lead change came as a reverse and-one layup in transition by Dre Rodgers put the Big Red back in front by two (63-61) with 4:09 on the clock.

Approaching the final two minutes of regulation, a steal by Rodgers led to a 3-pointer by C. Smith on the extra pass from Dean to make it a four-point Denison lead (66-62).

Up by one (68-67) in the final minute after three made free throws for Case, Denison went back to the free throw line as a nice spin move by Radtke earned him two shots with 41.7 remaining.

Radtke sank both shots to make it 70-67 Big Red, but the Spartans struck back with an and-one on their next possession to tie it with 28.4 seconds on the clock.

With an opportunity to take the last shot in regulation, Denison instead turned the ball over in the final two seconds as the Spartans just got a hand on the ball as Radtke made his move in the paint.

Denison falls to 1-3 on the season while Case, which was averaging 88.0 points per game to start the season and is coming off the two most successful seasons in the program's history, improved to 4-0. After making the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time and reaching the round of 16 during the 2021-22 season, the Spartans went on to set a program record for wins in a season with a 22-4 record last year, while winning the team's first-ever UAA Championship and reaching the round of 32 of the NCAA Championship. The Spartans are featured in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top-25 for just the second time in program history, entering the season ranked 13th, the highest the team has ever been in the organization's preseason poll.

Before Thanksgiving Break next week, Denison will return to the road to play at Otterbein University at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 21.