Tartans Hold Home Court in 78-70 Win Against Brandeis

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team hosted Brandeis University in University Athletic Association (UAA) action on Sunday, February 7, rallying for a 78-70 victory to improve to 9-11 and 2-7. Brandeis drops to 9-11 overall and 3-6 in the UAA.

It was a slow start for both teams as the score sat at 12-8 in favor of the Tartans nine minutes and 47 seconds into the game. After Brandeis tied it at 12-12, the Judges went on to lead 31-24 at the break.

The Judges held the lead and were up by nine points, 40-31, four minutes into the second half before the Tartans ran off 14 straight to go ahead 45-40. The run was fueled by sophomore Ryan Maha (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) who scored six points during the four-minute span.

A layup by junior Chris Shkil (Mentor, Ohio/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) with 8:38 to play put the Tartans ahead by eight, but the Judges fought back and took what turned out to be their last lead, 60-58, on a three ball by Colby Smith with 5:02 to play.

Maha drilled a jumper on the next Tartan possession and followed it with a fastbreak layup to give the home squad back the lead which they turned into the eight-point victory.

The Tartans shot 67.9% in the second half after just a 28% performance in the first stanza. Shkil finished the game with a career-high 24 points, scoring on 8-of-11 attempts in the second period. Maha tallied 15 points while junior Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) scored 14 and grabbed 11 rebounds for his 12th double-double.

Smith led the Judges with 21 points as Jordan Cooper scored 19.

The Tartans next play at the University of Chicago, on Friday, February 12. Game time will be at 8:00 p.m. CT.