Men’s Basketball Secures Winning Season With 64-55 Victory Over Rochester

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team hosted University of Rochester on Friday, February 20 and led for 37:27 which propelled the Tartans to a 64-55 victory in University Athletic Association play.  The win improves Carnegie Mellon's record to 13-10, 4-8 while the Yellowjackets fall to 9-14, 5-7.

Junior Jason Sebak's (New Kensington, Pa./Kiski Prep) three-pointer with 48 seconds left in regulation gave Carnegie Mellon a 62-55 advantage and secured the victory and the Tartans first winning season since 2008-09.  

Rochester scored seven straight points to knot the score at 43-43 with 10 minutes to play, but Carnegie Mellon responded scoring the next five points. Sophomore Chris Shkil (Mentor, Ohio/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) had a put-back layup followed by a triple by sophomore Matt Hillman (Gaithersburg, Md./Sidwell Friends) off an assist by Sebak.    
   
Carnegie Mellon took its largest lead of the contest with 4:34 to play in the first half following Sebak's second triple of the game which made the score 24-13.  Two minutes later, the Yellowjackets started a runoff seven straight to cut the deficit to 28-26.  In the closing seconds of the half, sophomore Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio) stole a Yellowjacket pass and took the rock the length of floor before slamming it home for a four-point halftime lead.   

The Tartans win their 10th contest of the season when shooting 45% from the floor, as the home team finished the night shooting 45.5% to the Yellowjackets 39.3%.  Serbin led all scorers with 18 points while senior Seth Cordts (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) chipped in with 15.  Serbin hauled down eight rebounds and recorded three blocks.  The sophomore needs one more block to tie the Tartan single-season record of 68 set by Terrance Bouldin-Johnson in 2008-09.  Seback ended the night with nine points and dished out three assists.  

Rochester had three score in double figures with Mack Montague leading with 16.  Sam Borst-Smith and Jared Seltzer had 15 and 10, respectively.

The Tartans will be back in action, Sunday, February 22, as they closeout their home season against the Eagles of Emory University. Tip is set for 12:00 p.m.