Men’s Basketball Fall 77-75 in Overtime at Chicago

(CHICAGO, Ill.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team traveled to the Windy City Friday, February 10 to play University of Chicago in a University Athletic Association (UAA) contest.   In overtime, the Tartans dropped a 77-75 decision to the Maroons, falling to 7-14, 2-8 while Chicago is now 12-9, 5-5.

With the score tied 18-18 at the midway point of the first half, the Tartans scored seven straight points to claim a 25-18 lead.  Senior John Duhring (Round Hill, Va./St. Maria Goretti) accounted for five of the points with his last coming on a fast-break layup following freshman Matt Loebbaka's (Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) steal and pass.

The Tartans turned their 7-0 scamper into a 13-2 run to give them the largest lead of the half, 31-20, after a pair of free throws by junior Andre Moore (Bowie, Md./Archbishop Spalding).  Carnegie Mellon held the lead the rest of the half and took a 36-27 lead into the break.

Carnegie Mellon's defense played a huge factor in its halftime lead, as the Tartans held the Maroons without a field goal over the last five minutes of the half.  The visitor's also turned 11 Maroon turnovers into 16 points with Chicago scoring six points off seven first half Tartan turnovers.

Chicago came out in the second half and cut the Tartans lead to 41-35 four minutes in.  The Tartans responded with their second 7-0 run of the game pushing their lead to 13 at 48-35 with 12:27 left in regulation.  

Over the next 5:39 the home team scored 13 unanswered and knotted the score at 48-48 with 6:48 on the clock.  At the 2:37 mark of the second half, Chicago claimed a 59-56 lead following a put-back layup by Matt MacKenzie.

With 1:09 to play, senior Joe Kromka (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) tied the score at 60-60 on a layup.  The team's exchanged a pair of free throws to make the score 62-62.  The Maroons had two chances to win the game in the closing seconds, but two missed shots and a Tartan rebound sent the game into overtime.

With 59 seconds remaining in overtime, Matt Johnson drained a trey from the top of the arc, making the score 72-69. After a Tartan turnover, Chicago's Derrick Davis slammed in a dunk to give the home team a 74-69 lead with 34 seconds on the clock.

The Tartans did not go away.  After a pair of missed foul shots by Chicago, sophomore Asad Meghani (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) drained a trey, making the score 74-72 with 14.6 seconds. Chicago's Tom Williams connected on a pair of free throws pushing the lead to four, but Meghani hit another from long range to pull the Tartans to within one, 76-75.

Williams was fouled and missed the first from the line before knocking down the second, making the score 77-75 with 6.5 ticks left.  Meghani gave the Tartans one last change, but his three-point attempt at the buzzer fell short.

Carnegie Mellon finished the game shooting 46% from the floor and 70% from the charity stripe while Chicago shot 47% from the floor and 65% from the line.

Duhring led a trio of Tartans in double figures, tying a career-high with 24 points.  Meghani finished with a career-high 21 points and four steals while Kromka ended with 11 points.  

The Tartans will travel to Washington University in St. Louis Sunday, February 12 for a 12:00 p.m. Central Standard Time tip.