Three Pointers Lead Tartans to Come-From-Behind Win Over Dickinson

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team's last three field goals were from long range, as the Tartans pulled out a 67-64 come-from-behind victory over Dickinson College.  The win on Tuesday, January 3 on the hardwood of Skibo Gymnasium moves the Tartans record to 5-6 while the Red Devils are now 5-7.

During the first half of play, there were 14 lead changes and eight ties.  The Tartans grabbed the largest lead, three points, on three occasions.  The last was on a made foul shot by sophomore Rob Mohen (Stamford, Conn./Regis (NY)) with 12:24 to play making the score 16-13.

Dickinson scored the next five points to claim one of its largest leads of the half at 18-16, but a trey by senior Max Gordon (Meredith, N.H./Phillips Exeter Academy) gave the Tartans a one-point advantage.  Over the next eight minutes, the score changed sides seven more time with Dickinson's Greg Nicol hitting a jumper with six seconds remaining in the half to give the Red Devils a 30-29 lead at the break.

The Red Devils jumped out to an early 35-31 advantage to start the second half, but the Tartans scored six straight to retake the lead at 37-35. The lead changed hands five times over the first six minutes with the Tartans holding a 44-43 lead at the 14:14 mark following a jumper by sophomore Christian Manoli (San Rafael, Calif./Terra Linda).

Over the next five minutes of play, Dickinson scored 10 unanswered, taking a 53-44 advantage.  The visitor's led by as many as 10, 59-49, with 5:44 left in regulation before the Tartans mounted their comeback.  Carnegie Mellon used a 10-2 run over the next 2:52 to pull within a bucket at 61-59.  The home team's last bucket during the run came from long range, as sophomore Rashaun Riley (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) drained his second of the contest.

Following a pair of free throws by Dickinson, sophomore Asad Meghani (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) knocked-down another triple to cut the lead to 63-62 with 2:09 to go in the game.

Dickinson held a 64-62 edge before sophomore Sean Brophy (Blue Bell, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) drained a trey as the shot clock was running down to put the Tartans up, 65-64, with 1:04 remaining. Brophy then drained a pair of foul shots with seven second remaining to seal the victory for the Tartans. Although, the Red Devils had two desperation tries to tie the game but both shots fell short.

Carnegie Mellon ended the game shooting 44.6% from the floor including a 9-21 performance from long range.  Dickinson finished the contest shooting 53.1% but was 1-10 from behind the arc.

Manoli led all scorers with 20 points while senior Joe Kromka (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) and Riley ended with 11 and 10, respectively.  Kromka added a game-high seven rebound in the win.
 
Carnegie Mellon will start UAA play on Saturday, January 7, when they travel to Case Western Reserve University for a 5:00 p.m. tip.