McNeil Records Career-High 19 Points as Tartans Drop Contest at Emory

(ATLANTA, Ga.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team dropped an 88-73 University Athletic Association (UAA) contest at Emory University on Sunday, February 18. Carnegie Mellon is now 13-11 and 7-5 in the UAA while Emory moves to 17-7, 8-5

The Tartans shot 41.8% from the floor to the Eagles 49.1%. Carnegie Mellon had three players score in double figures with senior Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio) leading the way with 20 points. Serbin recorded his UAA leading 15th double-double after hauling down a game-high 14 rebounds. Freshman Colin McNeil (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) scored a career-best 19 points in the setback with classmate Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J./St. John Vianney) chipping in with 11. Serbin and McNeil each had four assists.

The Eagles were led by 25 points from Jim Gordon. Chris Avant tallied 18, Adam Gigax recorded 12 and Whit Rapp and Gebereal Baitey each had 11 points for Emory.

Emory raced out to an early 11-5 lead, as neither team started the game shooting well, the Tartans began 2-of-11 while the Eagles converted 3-of-12 over the first seven minutes. Carnegie Mellon answered by connecting on three of its next four baskets to cut the score to 13-12. Emory then scored seven straight and pushed the lead to 20-12 halfway through the first half. McNeil's third traditional three-point play of the half and a pair of Serbin free throws pulled the Tartans to within a point once again at 30-29 with 2:37 on the clock. The Eagles then scored nine of the last 11 points of the half and led 39-31 at the break.

Carnegie Mellon trailed 51-38 four minutes into the second half, but used a 13-4 run over the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 55-51. With the score 63-58 at the 10-minute mark, Emory used an 11-2 run, with all 11 points coming from Gordon, to push the lead back to double figures at 74-60 with 7:25 to play.  

Carnegie Mellon concludes its regular season schedule on Saturday, February 25 with a 5:00 p.m. tip at Case Western Reserve University.