Stone's Late Three Lifts Tartans to Win on Senior Day Against Emory

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team hosted Emory University for Senior Day on Sunday, February 18. The game came down to the final seconds when senior Jack Stone hit the game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left to lift the Tartans to a 71-68 victory. The Tartans are now 8-5 in the University Athletic Association (UAA) and 16-8 overall while the Eagles are 14-10 overall and 5-8 in the league.

How It Happened

• There were four lead changes and four ties in the first half that saw Emory lead 31-30 at the break.
• The Tartans held their largest lead of eight points at the 11:14 mark when sophomore Buckley DeJardin scored a layup off a dish from senior R.J. Holmes to make it 16-8.
• Three minutes later, the Eagles tied the score at 19-all and they later took their first lead since the opening bucket when Logan Shanahan hit the team's third three-pointer of the half to make it 24-21.
• The lead then changed hands twice with the Tartans tying it once during the final five minutes of the period.
• Emory would hold the lead through the second period until a nine-point run over a two-minute span by the Tartans.
• Junior Nolan Casey started the run with an offensive putback, sophomore Justin Allen had a layup and two free throws, and Stone hit a corner three-pointer after Emory was called for a push-off on an inbounds play under the Tartans' hoop that made it 51-48 with 8:14 to go.
• Three minutes later, Holmes saved the possession on a lead pass that carried him under the hoop when he found DeJardin on the wing for a three-pointer that put the Tartans up two, 58-56, with 5:15 to play.
• Emory would score nine of the next 11 points to lead by five before Casey had two big buckets inside for the Tartans and Stone connected twice on a one-and-one situation with 55 seconds to play to tie the game at 66-all.
• Holmes was fouled while grabbing the defensive rebound after a block by Allen on the next possession by the Eagles and he calmly converted another pair of one-and-one free throws to give the Tartans a two-point lead.
• Emory's Shanahan answered with a pair of free throws after getting fouled driving to the hoop to tie the score with eight seconds to go.
• Stone had his senior moment when he took the inbounds pass quickly upcourt and juked his defender with a step-back three-pointer that hit nothing but the net for the lead with two ticks left on the clock.
• Emory's long inbounds pass was grabbed by Holmes at midcourt but his momentum carried him out of bounds and Emory had one last chance with 0.4 seconds to go, but the desperation three didn't get off in time.

For the Tartans

• Allen led the team in scoring with 19 points.
• Holmes and Casey recorded double-doubles with Holmes scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds while Casey finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
• Stone ended the game with 11 points and two steals.
• DeJardin scored 10 points and had three steals and two assists.

For the Eagles

• Shanahan led with 19 points and grabbed 21 rebounds.
• AJ Harris scored 14 points off the bench.
• Cale Martens and Jair Knight each had 13 points.
• Max Fried grabbed 14 rebounds.

Notes

• With 16 wins, the Tartans have the most wins in a season since 2008-09 when the team won 20 games, tying the school record after a NCAA first-round victory.
• Allen now holds the program's single-season scoring record with 525 points, passing George Harvey's record of 514 points set in 1976-77.

Up Next

The Tartans will travel to Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, February 24 for a 3:00 p.m. contest that could determine the UAA Champion.