Career Highs Lift Tartans to a 75-65 Win Over La Roche

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team hosted the Redhawks of La Roche College Thursday, December 20 and led wire-to-wire, as they came away with a 75-65 victory.  The win improves the Tartans' record to 2-7 while the Redhawks are now 5-6.

The Tartans opened the game with back-to-back three-pointers by junior Rashaun Riley (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) and senior Andre Moore (Bowie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) before extending the lead to 15-4 with 15:20 to play in the half.  Another long ball by Moore at the 12:32 mark gave the Tartans their largest lead of the half at 22-8.

La Roche cut the lead in half over the next six minutes, but two straight buckets by Moore pushed the Tartans' lead back to double figures as the home team took a 40-26 lead into the locker room.

The Redhawks started the second half scoring 12 straight points pulling to within two at 40-38 four minutes in. Moore once again hit two straight buckets to push the lead to six.  Carnegie Mellon continued to hold the lead as an and-one play by junior Rob Mohen (Stamford, Conn./Regis (NY)) with 11:29 to play gave the Tartans a 53-46 edge.

A Torin Smith three-pointer at the midway point pulled the visitor's back to within two at 53-51, but the Tartans used a 9-1 run over a four-minute span and held on for the 75-65 victory.

The Tartans were led by Moore's career-high 23 points while Mohen and Riley each cashed in with 13.  The 13 points for Mohen was also a career-high.  Junior Asad Meghani (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) was the fourth Tartan that scored in double figures with 11, as he also dished out a season-high six assists. Sophomore Matt Loebbaka (Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) finished with a career-high seven rebounds in the win to lead the Tartans on the glass.

La Roche was led by Joel McIntosh with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Lionel Perkins and David Jackson also record double figures in points with 13 and 12, respectively.  

Carnegie Mellon will be idle until after the New Year when they travel to Erie, Pa., to play Penn State Behrend.  Tip is set for 7:00 p.m.