Serbin Becomes 19th Tartan to Reach 1,000 Points as Men’s Basketball Drops Contest at Washington U.

(ST. LOUIS, Mo.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team continued University Athletic Association (UAA) play with an 80-75 setback to the Bears of Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday, February 14.  The road loss puts Carnegie Mellon's record at 9-13 and 2-9 in UAA play, as WashU moves to 12-10, 4-7.

Carnegie Mellon trailed 15-10 four minutes into play, but the Tartans used a 9-2 run over a two-minute span to grab a 19-17 lead with 14 minutes to play in the half.  During the run, junior Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio) scored seven of his 10 first half points.

WashU responded with a 7-2 spurt over the next four minutes, which handed the lead back to the home team.  The game remained evenly played over the next four minutes until the Bears scored 11 straight points to take their largest lead of the half at 42-30 and went into the locker room with a 44-35 advantage.

Carnegie Mellon's junior Chris Shkil (Mentor, Ohio/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) led all scorers at the break with 14 points, as he converted 6-of-8 from the floor.  The Bears turned 10 Tartan turnovers into eight points while Carnegie Mellon forced seven turnovers, but was unable to capitalize on the Bears mishaps in the first half of play.

Midway through the second half, WashU led 61-51 before the Tartans strung together another 9-2 run to cut the score to 63-60 with six minutes to play. During the run, Shkil accounted for five of the Tartans' points.

The Tartans pulled within a point at 70-69 on a pair of foul shots by Serbin with 2:03 to play.  The first free throw made by Serbin marked his 1,000th career point becoming the 19th Tartan to reach the milestone.

The Bears then answered with five consecutive points and converted 5-of-6 foul shots to hold on for the 80-75 win.  

Carnegie Mellon shot 50.0% from the field while WashU shot 44.8%.  Serbin and Shkil led the Tartans with 21 points each.  Serbin hauled in 12 rebounds to record his 13th double-double of the season.  The junior also collected three blocks and dished out three assists. Shkil finished with nine rebounds as the Tartans held the edge on the glass 38-39.

WashU for the game forced 18 Tartan turnovers and converted them into 18 points while the Tartans scored just two points off nine Bear turnovers.

Carnegie Mellon returns home on Friday, February 19 to play Emory University.  Tip is set for 8:00 p.m. on the hardwood of Skibo Gymnasium.