Serbin's 29 Points and Stand-Up Defense Leads Tartans to 77-75 Victory

Serbin's 29 Points and Stand-Up Defense Leads Tartans to 77-75 Victory

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Freshman Jack Serbin's (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) career afternoon led the Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team to a 77-75 victory over Brandeis University in University Athletic Association play in Skibo Gymnasium on Sunday, February 2. The Tartans improve to 10-8 on the year and 3-4 in the league, while the Judges drop to 9-9 and 1-6.

The Tartans started the game with a 12-6 run led by nine points from Serbin and held the lead until Brandeis tied the game and took the lead, 17-16, on two free throws by Tim Reale with 11:15 showing on the first half clock.

For the remainder of the period, the teams exchanged hoops with neither leading by more than four points and entered the locker rooms in a 41-41 tie.

Serbin led the Tartans for the half with 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting while senior Rob Mohen (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) scored 10 off the bench on 4-for-6 shooting.

With the Tartans down 53-50, senior Asad Meghani (Carrollton, Texas/Greenhill School) ran off seven straight and the team's leading scorer, senior Christian Manoli (San Rafael, Calif./Terra Linda), scored his first basket of the game to put the home team up four, 59-55, with 11:31 to go in the game.

The Tartans held that lead until 8:36 when Ben Bartoldus made two free throws to give Brandeis back the lead, 64-63.

The visitor's lead was short lived as Serbin went back to work and made three straight shots from the floor including back-to-back treys to give the Tartans a four-point advantage, 71-67, and a lead the team would hold and even stretch to five on a three-pointer by senior Rashaun Riley (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) with 2:41 to go.

Brandeis pulled within one-point but a free throw by Mohen with 41 seconds to play gave the Tartans the two-point lead that would stand as Serbin blocked Brandeis' Gabriel Moton's shot out of bounds with two seconds and a tip attempt by Bartoldus off the in-bounds was short.

Serbin finished with a career-high 29 points and three blocks in his fourth start of the year while Mohen tallied 15 points and Riley 13. Manoli was held to single digits for the first time this year but made up for it with six assists and three blocks on the defense.

Moton and Bartoldus each finished with 15 points for the Judges who outrebounded the Tartans 39-31.

The teams will face off again next week when the Tartans travel to Waltham, Mass., on Sunday, February 9 after playing in New York City on Friday, February 7. Game times are 8:00 p.m. on Friday and 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.