MEADVILLE, Pa. - A late second half run lifted visiting Carnegie Mellon to a 71-58 victory over the Gators in non-conference action at the David V. Wise Center.

Trailing 54-53 with 5:36 left in regulation, the visiting Tartans ended the game on an 18-4 run to pick up the comeback victory.  With the win, CMU improves to 4-2 on the season, while the Gators enter their conference opener with an even 3-3 mark.

A pair of seniors led Allegheny on the scoresheet, as Evan Zabriski led the hosts with 18 points, and Conor Macomber chipped in 11.  The Gators forced 20 Carnegie Mellon turnovers, and limited the Tartans to just six three-point field goals in 23 attempts, but Carnegie Mellon owned a commanding 53-32 advantage in rebounding, while the visitors connected on 19 of 27 free throws, compared to the Gators' 9-for-14 mark from the charity stripe.

The Tartans saw a pair of players post double-doubles, as Jack Serbin scored 22 points with 14 rebounds, and Chris Shkil 20 points and 10 boards.

Allegheny held the lead for most of the first half, and got off to a strong start thanks to Macomber, who scored baskets on each of the Gators' first two possessions of the evening. Leading 10-7 after a Billy Urso three-pointer at the 16:40 mark, the Gators received another trey from Macomber, and five points from Zabriski in a 40-second span to open up an 18-14 advantage with 13 minutes remaining in the half.

A pair of buckets from Zabriski, followed by a lay-up and three-pointer by Brendan O'Toole on consecutive possessions eventually stretched the Allegheny lead to seven, 27-20, with just inside nine minutes left.

A three-pointer from Carnegie Mellon's Ryan Maha with 8:24 left kickstarted a lengthy Carnegie Mellon run, as the Tartans connected on another trey, while adding six free throws in a three-minute span, to cap off a 12-4 run and gain a 32-31 lead with 2:42 remaining.  Two free throws from Macomber a minute later would put the Gators back on top, but the lead was short-lived, as Carnegie Mellon scored the final six points of the first half to head into the intermission with a 39-33 lead.

Over the first half, the Gators held a 13-12 edge in field goals, and made five three-pointers to CMU's three, but the difference came at the foul line, where Carnegie Mellon went 11-for-15, compared to 2-for-4 by the Gators.

Baskets by Jordan Rawls and Macomber in the first 90 seconds of the second half would cut the Tartan lead to two, 39-37, but the visitors answered with another long spurt, posting a 10-2 run over a six-minute span to open up their first double-digit lead, 49-39, with 11:50 left in regulation.

The Gators quickly fought back.  A pair of free throws from Rawls pulled the hosts to within single digits, before a long three-pointer from the right wing by Zack Pateras made it a five-point game, 49-44, with 11:12 left. Zabriski's lay up with 10:27 left cut the score to 49-46, before a Brendon Urso free throw was followed by a pair of freebies from Zabriski to forge a 49-49 tie at the 9-minute mark.  Zabriski then capped off the 12-0 run with a step back jumper from the elbow to put the Gators back in front 51-49 with 8:43 remaining.

Carnegie Mellon answered with four straight points to take a 53-51 lead, but Zabriski responded with a long three-pointer with 5:36 left to put the hosts back up by one.

It marked the final lead of the night for the hosts, however, as CMU quickly answered with a quick 14-1 run over the next three minutes to open up a 67-55 lead, and the Gators were unable to recover.  Over the final 5:36, the Carnegie Mellon defense limited the Gators to just one field goal, while offensively, the Tartans connected on seven free throws.

In the second half, Allegheny went just 8-for-31 from the field, including a 2-for-13 mark from behind the arc, while Carnegie Mellon went 11-for-27 from the field and 8-for-11 from the foul line.  

For the game, the Gators scored 18 points off of 20 CMU turnovers, while the Allegheny bench outscored Carnegie Mellon's 30-10.  The sizeable Tartan front court held a 32-14 edge in points in the paint, in addition to the aforementioned 53-32 rebounding margin.  

Zach Shedd led the Gators with five rebounds and three blocked shots, while Nee and Billy Urso each dished two assists.  Pateras led both sides with a game-high three steals. 

Allegheny will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 3, opening up North Coast Athletic Conference play with a 1 p.m. home matinee at the Wise Center against Wittenberg University.