Tartans Fall in Overtime at Bethany

(BETHNAY, W.Va.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team traveled to Bethany College Tuesday, November 22 and dropped a 72-67 overtime contest to the Bison. The Tartans are now 1-2 overall while Bethany remains unbeaten at 3-0.
    
A three-point basket three minutes into play by junior Thomas Cook (Gwynn Oak, Md./Carver Arts & Tech.) gave the Tartans an early 9-6 lead. Over the next six minutes, Bethany rattled off 10 straight points to claim a 16-9 lead with 13 minutes to play in the first half.

Junior Ryan Maha's (West Mifflin, Pa.) trey at the 6:16 mark pulled Carnegie Mellon to within three at 23-20, but Bethany closed the half on a 12-5 run and led 35-25 at the break. Carnegie Mellon shot 31% (9-29) from the floor over the first twenty minutes of play while the Bison shot 42% (15-36).

Bethany grabbed it largest lead of the game at 46-35 with 12:41 to play, but the Tartans scored nine straight points over the next four minutes to cut the score to 46-44. During the run, senior Chris Shkil (Mentor, Ohio/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) accounted for six points.

Over the next five minutes, the home team held the lead, but not by more than three points until Shkil's layup at the 3:15 mark gave the Tartans a 55-54 lead, one they didn't hold until early in the first half.

A pair of free throws by Maha with 1:56 to play in regulation put Carnegie Mellon on top 57-54. Bethany's Chaice Truex scored five straight points with the last three coming on a traditional three-point play with nine seconds left in the contest to give the Bison a 59-57 lead. The Tartans didn't go away, as Maha drained a jumper with four ticks left to knot the score at 59-59. Following a steal by Maha in the closing seconds, Tartan freshman point guard Colin McNeil (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) had a half-court shot rim in and out at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.  
 
At the 3:22 mark in the overtime frame Bethany took a 63-61 lead off a tip-in by Liam Davis. The Bison maintained the lead the rest of the game and outscored the Tartans' 13-8 in the extra period to go on for the 72-67 victory.     

Carnegie Mellon finished the game shooting 37.5% from the field while Bethany shot 38.0%. The Tartans were led by a trio in double figures with Shkil tops with 16. Maha and senior Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio) each chipped in with 13. Serbin tabbed his second double-double of the season, as he hauled down a game-high 13 rebounds.

Davis led the Bison with 16 points while Truex scored 15 off the bench. Antonio Rudolph and Andrew Williams also score don double figures with 13 and 10, respectively. Truex led Bethany with 11 rebounds in the win.

The Tartans will host the Carnegie Mellon DoubleTree Invitational on Saturday, November 26, with a game against Mount Aloysius College at 3:00 p.m. while Goucher College will play Saint Vincent College at 1:00 p.m. in the first day of play.