Men's Basketball Falls at Brandeis Despite Career Afternoons by Four Tartans

(WALTHAM, Mass.) – Career scoring afternoons for three Tartans weren't enough as the Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team fell, 87-79, to Brandeis University on Sunday, January 28. The Tartans are now 4-14 overall and 0-7 in the University Athletic Association (UAA) while the Judges move to 4-13 and 1-6.

Sophomore Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J. / St. John Vianney) led the Tartans with a career-high 26 points while freshman Zach Watson (Dublin, Ohio / Jerome) finished with a career-best 19 points. Sophomore Trent Suddeth (Winter Park, Fla. / Trinity Prep) recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while sophomore Cooper Williams (Meriden, N.H. / Kimball Union Academy) also recorded a career-high with 14 points.

Brandeis opened with a 14-2 run through the first three minutes and 52 seconds of the game. Over the next seven minutes, the Tartans used a 16-3 run to take their first lead of the game when Howarth hit a three-pointer from the corner, making the score 18-17.

After the Tartans took their first lead with nine minutes to go, the advantage changed hands four times before Williams hit a trey fueling a 10-4 run to end the period with the Tartans up 36-30.

The dribble-drive for a score and the drive-and-kick for a three-pointer worked for the Tartans in the later portion of the first half as Watson finished the half with 10 points on four driving layups and Howarth scored 15 on 3-of-3 shooting from the arc and three driving buckets.

The Tartans shot 55.6 percent from long range and 45.2 percent from the floor in the first half while the Judges converted 41.4 percent from the floor and hit just 2-of-9 three-point attempts.

Carnegie Mellon extended its lead to 10 before Brandeis rattled off a 14-4 run to tie the game at 44-all with 13:53 to go. Freshman Daniel Weiss (Marlboro, N.J. / Marlboro) drained a three-pointer on the next possession and the Tartans kept the lead until Brandeis had an 8-0 run to lead 54-49 with 11:12 to play.

A string of free throws and a jumper by Howarth briefly gave back the lead to the Tartans, 57-56, but the Judges hit nine of their final 18 shots and led by as many as 10 points before withstanding a Tartan rally to earn the 87-79 victory.

Carnegie Mellon will return home to face New York University on Friday, February 2 at 8:00 p.m.