Tartans First Half Lead Doesn't Hold in 77-70 Loss to #25 Brandeis

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team hosted #25 Brandeis University on Sunday in University Athletic Association (UAA) play, falling to the Judges, 77-70. Carnegie Mellon is now 9-11 overall and 2-7 in UAA play. Brandeis moves to 15-5 and 7-2.

Coming off a close loss to conference foe New York University Friday night, the Tartans entered the day looking for their first win against a ranked opponent since their victory over then #22 NYU in January 2016.

Senior guard Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J. / St. John Vianney) was honored pregame for scoring his 1,000th career point earlier this season. Howarth entered the game at 14th on the all-time scoring list.

The Tartans led the game for the majority of the first half led by senior forward Trent Suddeth's (Winter Park, Fla. / Trinity Prep) 14 first half points. As a team, the Tartans' first half scoring effort was led by their 22 points in the paint and 12 fast break points. Along with a stifling defense that kept the Judges to shooting only 13% (2-15) from long range in the first half, the score at the end of the period was 36-29 Tartans.

In the second half, Brandeis came out fast with a 14-4 run that gave them their first lead (43-40) since the first two minutes of the game. The Cardinal and Gray, trailed 47-46 following a triple by junior forward Daniel Weiss (Marlboro, N.J. / Marlboro) with 14:31 remaining in the second half, before a 14-3 run by the Judges over the next five minutes.

The second run proved to be too much for the Tartans, as the home team could only cut the lead to four points with 28 seconds left before late free throws by the Judges put the game away.

Four Tartans scored in double figures in the game. Weiss finished with 10 points while Suddeth finished with 16. Howarth scored 18 points moving to 13th on the all-time scoring list with 1,176 points for his career. Fellow senior guard Colin McNeil (Ringoes, N.J. / Hunterdon Central Regional) scored 12 points to go with eight assists as he continues to be one of the nation's top passers. Also in the setback, Howarth recorded a career-best four blocked shots.

Chandler Jones and Colin Sawyer both led the Judges with 17 points while Matan Zucker had 10 points off the bench.

The Tartans will next play at the University of Chicago on Friday, February 14 at 8:00 p.m. Carnegie Mellon defeated the Maroons, 71-62, at home in mid-January.