Tartans Win Fourth Straight, Top Elmira, 72-53

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team defeated Elmira College 72-53 on Saturday, November 28 in the Carnegie Mellon DoubleTree Invitational. The Tartans improved to 4-0 on the season whle Elmira dropped to 0-4.

A three-point game at the 11:50 mark of the first half turned into a double-digit lead by the Tartans, 28-9 and 9:27 to play, with a 12-0 run fueled by two baskets by freshman Patrick Ehland (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon).

The Tartans' advantage ballooned to 19 points at the break when senior Kemal Dincer (Istanbul, Turkey/Texas Christian University) drained two treys in the final 1:07 to give the Tartans six made shots from behind the arc for the half and a 45-26 lead.

Junior Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) led the Tartans in the first half with 15 points while senior Blake Chasen (Chevy Chase, Md./Phillips Exeter (N.H.)) pulled down nine rebounds in the first 20 minutes on his way to a career-high 15 rebounds for the game.

The lead grew to 26 for the Tartans on a layup by Serbin with 11:39 to play in the game and only dropped to 15 following a 9-0 run by the Soaring Eagles from the 9:22 mark to 5:36 left to go.

Again the Tartans proved what defense can do, as they gave up a season-low 53 points and held the Eagles to 32.8% shooting for the game.

Serbin finished with a game-high 19 points while he grabbed 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Sophomore Ryan Maha (West Mifflin, Pa./West Mifflin) tallied 11 points as Ehland finished with 10 points off the bench. Senior Jason Sebak (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) dished out a team-high four assists while junior Chris Shkil (Mentor, Ohio/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) blocked three shots.

The Tartans return to the court on Sunday, November 29 against Trine University (3-1) in the championship game of the Carnegie Mellon DoubleTree Invitational at 3:00 p.m.