Allen Scores 36 Points in Tartans 91-85 Setback at #11 Emory

(ATLANTA, Ga.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team continued University Athletic Association (UAA) play Friday night with a trip to Atlanta, Georgia to play the 11th-ranked Eagles of Emory University. The Tartans dropped a 91-85 contest and are now 10-7 overall and 1-5 in UAA play while Emory moves to 14-3, 4-2.

Game Information
Carnegie Mellon 85, Emory 91
Records: Carnegie Mellon (10-7, 1-5), Emory (14-3, 4-2)
Location: Atlanta, Pa. (Woodruff P.E. Center)

How it Happened

• Carnegie Mellon jumped out to a 7-0 lead two minutes into the contest with a triple off the hands of junior Justin Allen followed by a long jumper by the junior and then a fastbreak dunk from graduate student R.J. Holmes.
• Four minutes later, the Tartans expanded the lead to 16-7.
• At the 5:06 mark of the first half with the Tartans leading 33-26, Emory put together a 10-1 run over a span of two minutes and took a 36-34 advantage.
• A triple by freshman Alex Hassanein at the 2:50 mark followed by a free throw from Allen and a driving layup from Holmes gave the lead back to the Tartans at 40-36 with two minutes to play in the half.
• The Tartans then took a 42-41 lead into the locker room along with 22 first half points by Allen and a 53.1% (17-32) shooting effort from the visitors.
• Neither team started the second half shooting the rock well, as the Tartans were 1-14 and the Eagles 2-10.
• Emory scored the first five points of the second half and took a 46-42 lead, but the Tartans scored the next five and regained the lead at 47-46.
• The home team then used a 9-3 run and led 55-50 at the 11:58 mark.
• The Eagles lead grew to 71-62 with 8:03 to play, but the Tartans held Emory to zero points over the next two minutes and cut the deficit to 71-67.
• That's as close as the Tartans came with the Eagles maintaining the lead the rest of the way and converted 7-of-10 from the foul line down the stretch.

Tartan Stats

• The Tartans ended the game shooting 43.7% (31-71) while converting 7-of-23 (30.4%) from long range.
• Allen led the Tartans with 36 points.
• Holmes finished with 17 points while Hassanein scored a career-high 16 points in the setback.
• Holmes led the Tartans with nine rebounds and two blocks
• Senior Nolan Casey handed out five assists and Hassanein recorded a career-high four assists.

Eagle Stats

• The Eagles finished shooting 47.8% (33-69) from the floor and made 8-of-24 (33.3%) from behind the arc.
• Ben Pearce and Jair Knight each scored 25 points to lead the Eagles.
• Knight finished with a game-high 13 rebounds while Pearce had a game-high eight assists.

Game Notes

• Allen has now scored 30 or more points in six games this season and 10 in his career.
• Holmes currently ranks fourth all-time in program history with 1,306 points and Allen ranks sixth with 1,299 points. Allen needs to more to move into fifth.

Up Next

• The Tartans will travel to Rochester, New York, to face the Yellowjackets on Sunday, February 2 at 2:00 p.m.