Tartans Drop 62-50 Decision in Nation’s Capital

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team dropped a 62-50 decision to Catholic University Thursday, November 30.  The loss in our nation's capital evens the Tartans record at 3-3 while the Cardinals remain unbeaten at 5-0.

The Tartans took an early 3-0 lead when sophomore Rashaun Riley (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) drained a trey on Carnegie Mellon's second possession of the game. Catholic then ran off eight straight points, taking an 8-3 lead with 17:14 to play in the opening half.

Carnegie Mellon answered with five straight, knotting the score at 8-8, but the Cardinals put together an 11-4 run over the next 4:38, taking a 19-12 lead and never looked back. Catholic closed out the half with three straight to lead 40-23 as the teams headed into the locker room.

Catholic came out in the second half and extended its lead to 19 (42-23) on an early layup by Chris Kearney.  Later in the half, the Tartans ran off eight straight to get within 48-39 with 9:12 to play, but two Kearney free throws pushed Catholic's lead back to double digits.

The Tartans did not go down without a fight. Sophomore Christian Manoli (San Rafael, Calif./Terra Linda) jumper with 4:39 on the clock pulled the Tartans to within eight, but Catholic scored the next four points making the score 59-47 with 1:02 remaining.

The Tartans shot 30.5% from the field while the home team converted 44.0% of its shots.  Catholic controlled the boards, hauling in 44 rebounds to the Tartans 29.

Riley and Manoli led the Tartans with 12 points each.  Sophomore Asad Meghani (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) was the only other Tartan in double figures as he cashed in with 11. Manoli added a season-high five assists in the setback while senior Joe Kromka (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) recorded a career-high four steals.

Catholic was led by Kearney's double-double with a career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds.  Shawn Holmes and Darrell Carroll each added eight for the Cardinals.

The Tartans will travel to Bethany, W.Va. Tuesday, December 6 as the play the Bison at 7:00 p.m.