Tartans Win Overtime Thriller Against Marymount, 90-84

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team opened 2019 hosting the Saints of Marymount University on Wednesday afternoon and won a 90-84 overtime thriller in Skibo Gymnasium. Sophomore Daniel Weiss' (Marlboro, N.J.) tip-in with under a second to play in regulation sent the contest into overtime where the Tartans outscored the Saints 11-5 to improve to 5-6 at the conclusion of its non-conference schedule. Marymount is now 7-6.

Both teams had the hot hand shooting from the floor throughout, with the Tartans shooting 60.4% (32-53), including 50.0% (6-12) from long range, as Marymount shot 51.7% (31-60) from the field. Junior Trent Suddeth (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep) led four Tartans in double figures with a career-best 24 points after converting 10-of-14 from the floor.

Junior Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J./St. John Vianney) made 3-of-4 from behind the arc and ended the game with 21 points. Senior Seth Henry (Fulton, Md./Reservoir) and sophomore Zach Watson (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) ended with 14 and 11 points, respectively, while junior Colin McNeil (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) tied a season-best with seven assists and grabbed a team-high six rebounds along with Howarth.

The Saint were led by Brandon Rogers with 25 points. Ibrahim Kamara added 16 points in the contest, while Ryan Albert and Taiga Walker chipped in with 13 points each.

Five minutes into play, Carnegie Melon trailed 10-5 before putting together a 10-1 run over a five-minute span and took its first lead of the contest at 15-11 with 9:48 to play in the first half. Both teams continued to trade runs with the Tartans closing the first frame on a 9-3 scamper. Freshman Charlie Tripp (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mariemont) connected on a jumper from the wing with three ticks left to give the home team a 37-29 lead at the break.

Watson give the Tartans their largest lead of the game two minutes into the second half on a triple to make the score 44-35. Marymount then scored seven unanswered to pull within a bucket at the 16:08 mark. The Cardinal and Gray held onto the lead over the next eight minutes until the Saints took a 63-62 lead on a layup by Kamara.

The lead changed four times from there before Marymount used a 9-2 run late in the second half and built a 76-69 lead with 2:19 on the clock. Carnegie Mellon then closed the second half of play on a 10-3 run with junior Cooper Williams (Meriden, N.H./Kimball Union Academy) starting things by draining three free throws and accounting for five points during the run. Weiss' tip-in came on a missed three-point attempt by Howarth with two seconds to play, as the sophomore grabbed the rebound and faded to the baseline while still in the air.

After Suddeth scored the opening basket of overtime off a pass down low from Howarth, Rogers hit from behind the arc to give the visitor's an 82-81 lead. The Tartans answered with a 9-2 run to end the game with Howarth connecting on a pair of foul shots to seal the win with 13 seconds left in overtime.

The Tartans will next be in action on Saturday, January 5 at 4:00 p.m. when they entertain Case Western Reserve University for the University Athletic Association (UAA) opener.