Tartans Strong Foul Shooting in Closing Minute Leads to 84-80 Victory at NYU

(BROOKLYN, N.Y.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team opened its road University Athletic Association (UAA) against New York University in Brooklyn, New York on Sunday afternoon at St. Francis College and the Tartans strong foul shooting in the last minutes, making 7-of-8, propelled them to an 84-80 win. The Tartans are now 8-4 overall and 1-1 in UAA play while NYU moves to 9-3, 0-2.

Carnegie Mellon had four players score in double figures led by sophomore R.J. Holmes (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai Stevenson) with 29 points while making three from behind the arc. It marked his fourth contest this season that he has scored 20 or more. The sophomore also grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds to secure his seventh double-double of the season.

Freshman Aidan Murphy (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West) converted 4-of-6 from long range and finished with 14 points. Junior Josh Berry (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) added 13 points and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the line, including making four in the final minute of play. The junior handed out a career-best seven assists in the win while classmate Nick Nakasian (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) ended with 10 points.

Bobby Hawkinson led NYU with 29 points and a game-best 16 rebounds. Zay Freeney and Jacob Sussman scored 15 and 12 points, respectively, for the Violets.

At the 12-minute mark of the first half, the Tartans trailed 23-14 before putting together a 13-2 over the next four-and-a-half minutes to grab a 27-25 advantage. The lead changed hands four more times in the first half and stayed with the Tartans following a triple by Berry with three minutes remaining to make the score 36-34. The visitors then would lead 41-40 at the break.

With 13:59 to play, Holmes gave the Tartans a 58-47 lea after scoring eight straight points. The Violets kept eating away at the Cardinal and Gray's lead and used two different mini runs and made the score 75-73 with 1:51 to play.

The Tartans return home on Friday, January 21 with a 5:30 p.m. tip against the Yellowjackets from the University of Rochester before hosting 25th-ranked Emory University on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.