Late Hobart Run Sinks Tartans

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team hosted Hobart College on Saturday and a late Statesmen run lifts the visitor's to an 89-75 victory. Carnegie Mellon moves to 3-5 on the season while Hobart improves to 4-2.

Carnegie Mellon took care of the ball, as the Tartans turned in a season low seven turnovers while forcing the Statesmen to 13 mishaps. Hobart shot 52.5% from the floor to the Tartans 38.6% and the Statesmen bench out score the Tartans 35-12.

The Tartans had four players score in double figures with senior Ryan Maha (West Mifflin, Pa.) leading the way with 18 points and connected on a season-high four triples. Sophomore Colin McNeil (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) chipped in with 16 points, tying a season-best, handed out five assists and grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J./St. John Vianney) and freshman Daniel Weiss (Marlboro, N.J.) each had 13 points. For Weiss, it marked a career-best, as the freshman connected on 3-of-6 from behind the arc.

Matt Walsh led the Statesmen with 24 points coming off the bench. Walsh connected on 8-of-9 from the floor including knocking down all five of his three-point attempts. Colin Dougherty scored 14, Tucker Lescoe had 13, Dan Masino chipped in with 11 while Jamal Lucas added 10 for Hobart.

The first half saw the scored tied five times with five lead changes. Carnegie Mellon took its largest lead of the half at 25-20 with 10:35 to play on a trey by Weiss. Hobart then used a 7-2 run to knot the score at 27-27 and then later used a 9-4 run to grab a 36-31 lead with 4:46 to play in the half. The Statesmen pushed their lead to seven on two occasion the remainder of the half before taking a 47-42 lead into the break.

Carnegie Mellon started the second half scoring seven of the first 10 points to cut the deficit to 50-49 two minutes in. Hobart then pushed its lead to 62-56 at the 12-minute mark before Carnegie Mellon scored seven straight points to retake the lead 63-62 with 9:23 to play. With the score knotted at 68-68 with 6:31 to play, Hobart used an 11-1 run, thanks to three triples by Walsh during the stretch, to take a 79-69 lead and never looked back. The Statesmen ended the game on a 21-7 run over the last 6:31 of the contest to leave Pittsburgh with the win.

The Tartans are idle until Friday, December 29 when they play King's College in the opening round of the Louis Fleming Basinger Memorial Tournament held at Lycoming College. Tip is set for 8:00 p.m. in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.