Tartans Open Season With 70-61 Setback to Top Ranked Randolph-Macon

(FREDERICK, Md.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team opened its 2021-22 season at the MMI Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Hood College. The Tartans played the nation's top ranked team, Randolph-Macon College, on Friday and dropped a 70-61 contest.

Carnegie Mellon ended the game shooting 38.8% from the floor, as Randolph-Macon shot 47.5%, including 62.1% in the second half. The Tartans converted 18-of-19 (94.7%) from the foul line with the Yellow Jackets converting just 6-of-10. It marked the first time since the 2018-19 season the Tartans have shot over 90% from the line in which they did it twice that year.

Junior Sean Oberman (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central) led the Tartans with 18 points while sophomore R.J. Holmes (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai Stevenson) chipped in with 11. Junior Nick Nakasian (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) finished with nine points in the loss. Junior Josh Berry (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) led Carnegie Mellon with a career-high seven rebounds.

The Yellow Jackets had three in double figures with Miles Mallory leading with a game-high 21 points. Josh Talbert and Loginn Norton finished with 11 and 10, respectively.

A four-point play by Oberman with 17:29 on the clock in the first half, gave the Tartans a 10-0. During the run, the Cardinal and Gray converted 4-of-4 from the floor. Over the next six minutes, Randolph-Macon put together a 15-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 15-12 with nine minutes to play in the half. The lead changed four more time before the close of the first twenty minutes of action before the Yellow Jackets used a 6-0 run and took a 25-23 edge into the locker room.

The Yellow Jackets opened the second frame on a 13-0 run and extended its lead to 38-23 with 15:15 on the clock. Randolph-Macon led by as many as 17 in the second half, but Carnegie Mellon did not go away. The Tartans used a 7-0 run late in the half to cut the deficit to 60-53 with 3:10 to play. The Yellow Jackets scored five straight to push the lead back to double digits, but the Cardinal and Gray answered scoring the next six. A pair of made free throws by Nakasian with 47 seconds showing on the clock made the score 65-59, but that's as close as the Tartans pulled.

Carnegie Mellon will now play either Wilson College or the host Blazers at 12:00 p.m. Saturday in the consolation game.