Men’s Basketball Opens UAA Play with 78-61 Win Over Case Western Reserve

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team opened University Athletic Association (UAA) play on Saturday, January 7 with a 78-61 win over the visiting Spartans of Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, January 7. All five Carnegie Mellon starters scored in double figures, as the Tartans improve to 7-5 overall and 1-0 while the Spartans are now 5-7, 0-1.

The Tartans finished the game shooting 44.4% from the floor to the Spartans 32.3%. For the 11th time this season, Carnegie Mellon won the rebounding battle with a 45-39 edge over Case Western Reserve.

Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio) accounted for 20 of the Tartans' boards which tied a career-high for the senior. Serbin also led all scorers with 23 points to record his seventh double-double this season. Senior Chris Shkil (Mentor, Ohio/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) and junior Ryan Maha (West Mifflin, Pa.) each had 12 points while sophomore Seth Henry (Fulton, Md./Reservoir) and freshman Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J./St. John Vianney) added 11 apiece.

Case Western Reserve was led by Connor Nally with 15 points and T.J. Duckett with 14 points. Duckett added 10 rebounds to lead the Spartans on the glass.

Shkil started the game converting three straight shots to give the home team an early 6-0 lead. Case Western Reserve knotted the score at 6-6 at the 17:35 mark before Carnegie Mellon rattled off 15 straight to lead 21-6 with 13 minutes to play in the half. During the middle of the run, Serbin drained a three-pointer which marked the 400th straight contest that Carnegie Mellon has made a three-point basket. The Tartans led by as many as 18 in the first half before taking a 43-28 advantage into the break.

Four minutes into the second half, Carnegie Mellon took its largest lead at 53-31 on a pair of foul shots by Serbin. Case Western Reserve then used a 16-4 run over the next six-and-a-half minutes and cut the lead to 57-47. That was as close as the Spartans came, as the Cardinal and Gray scored the next nine points and led 66-47 with six minutes to play.   

The Tartans will be back in action on Friday, January 13 when they head to Brandeis University before traveling to the Big Apple on Sunday, January 15 to play New York University. Tip at Brandeis is set for 8:00 p.m. Friday in Waltham, Massachusetts.