Mohen Scores 15 in Tartans Loss to Penn State Behrend

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team started the new year with a 74-60 setback to Penn State Behrend on the hardwood of Skibo Gymnasium Saturday, January 4.  The loss drops the Tartans record to 6-4 while the Lions improve to 8-2.

With the score knotted at 7-7 following a trey by Tartan senior Christian Manoli (San Rafael, Calif./Terra Linda), Behrend scored 10 straight points before pushing the run to 20-4 over a nine minute span to claim a 27-11 edged with 6:15 to play in the half.  The visitor's stayed in control over the last six minutes of play to take a 37-20 lead into the break.

The Lions turned 11 first half Tartans mishaps into 14 points as Behrend also had the hot hand shooting 53.3% from the floor in the first frame.

In the second half, Carnegie Mellon took care of the ball committing only two turnovers while Behrend had seven that led to 11 second half Tartan points.   

The second half was evenly matched while Carnegie Mellon cut the lead to 13 (39-26) 1:27 into the second half on senior Asad Meghani's (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) three-pointer.  Two minutes later Meghani scored on a layup making the score 45-32, but four straight points by the Lions pushed the lead back to 17.

Meghani finished with game with 10 points all coming in the second half with the last of his points coming on a traditional three-point play. The seniors foul shot with 1:58 to play in the contest cut the deficit to 69-57, but the was as close as the Tartans came as Behrend went on for the 74-60 victory.

Behrend finished the game shooting 52.5% from the floor while Carnegie Mellon improved from its 30.8% shooting effort in the first half to shoot 45.2% in the second and end the game shooting 38.6%.  

The Tartans shot 91.7% (11-12) from the foul line marking the best single-game team performance since 2010 when the team shot 90% (9-10) from the charity stripe against Case Western Reserve.  Behrend finished the game a perfect 7-7 from the line.
 
Senior Rob Mohen (Stamford, Conn./Regis (NY)) led the Tartans with 15 points after shooting 70% (7-10) from the floor. Manoli was the only other Tartans to score in double figures with 10 points.  It marked the 10th straight game the senior poured in double digits.

Nick DeLisio led Behrend with 24 points while Shane Skelly and Keith Wallace each had 14 and 12, respectively.  Skelly hauled in a game-high eight rebounds for the Lions.

The Tartans will host Allegheny College Wednesday, January 8 at 3:00 p.m. in Skibo Gymnasium as a make-up game from their postponed November-scheduled tilt.