Tartans Hold Off Judges Comeback in 78-72 Win

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team snapped a two-game skid with a 78-72 win Friday night against visiting Brandeis University. The Tartans are now 11-8 for the season and 4-5 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play.

The Tartans led 32-28 at the break behind 12 points from sophomore Jack Stone (Newport Beach, Calif. / Corona Del Mar). The guard connected on all five of his shots, including two three pointers, in the first 20 minutes of play off the bench.

The lead switched hands three times in the first half with the Tartans taking their final lead on a jumper by Stone with 6:49 to go that made the score 19-18. The Tartans would close the period with a 13-10 run and lead by as many as six three different times in the final minutes.

The Judges opened the second half with an 8-2 run to take back the lead, one they held until the 14:33 mark when junior Josh Berry (Western Springs, Ill. / Lyons Township) grabbed a defensive rebound and finished the play with a layup for a 44-43 Tartan lead. The position before was a Kevin Sax (Highlands Ranch, Colo. / Thunder Ridge) dunk off a dish from Berry that sparked an 18-2 run to put the home squad up 58-45 with half the frame left to play.

Brandeis didn't give in to the Tartans, three times clawing back to trail by less than 10 points, hitting their 10th three-pointer of the game with 38 seconds to play to make it a 75-70 game.

The Tartans closed the final seconds with three free throws to shoot 18-of-28 for the game.

Carnegie Mellon shot 50.0% from the floor in the first half and continued that in the second with a 51.9% showing.

Stone, who shot 3-for-4 in the second period, finished with a career-high 29 points to go with six rebounds. Sax was 6-of-6 from the floor, scoring 16 points while grabbing nine boards. Sophomore R.J. Holmes (Buffalo Grove, Ill. / Adlai Stevenson) joined them in double figure scoring with 15 points and also pulled down nine rebounds.

The Tartans will continue the weekend at home with New York University visiting Wiegand Gymnasium for Senior Day on Sunday, February 13 at 12:00 p.m.