From Carnegie Mellon University Athletics
The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team
hosted the Redhawks of La Roche College Thursday, December 18 and
came away with a 74-64 overtime victory behind sophomore Jack
Serbin's (New Albany, Ohio) fifth double-double of the
season. The win improves the Tartans' record to 8-0, tying
the second best start in school history, while the Redhawks are now
1-8.
Carnegie Mellon jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with baskets by
junior Blake Chasen (Chevy Chase, Md./Phillips Exeter
(N.H.)) and sophomore Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio) and never
looked back the rest of the half. With seven minutes to play
in the first half, senior Seth Cordts (Amherst,
N.H./Souhegan) pushed the Tartans lead to 18-10, but La Roche used
a 10-4 run to close the deficit to 22-20 with 3:39 to play in the
half.
The Tartans answered the Redhawks scamper by scoring the last nine
points of the half to go into the break leading 31-20. Cordts
scored half of his first half 14 points during the stretch,
connecting on a pair of treys surrounding a foul shot.
Carnegie Mellon started the second half on a 13-4 run to take its
largest lead of the game at 44-26 with 15:25 to play. The
visitor's responded with a 22-4 run over the next nine minutes to
deadlock the score at 48-48. At the 4:18 mark, La Roche's
Evan Bonnaure connected on a three-pointer from the top of the arc
to give the Redhawks their first lead of the contest at 53-52.
La Roche held the lead until 49 seconds left in regulation when
Cordts connected on a pair of foul shots to put the Tartans on top
60-58. On the Redhawks ensuing possession, Arnes Bajgora tied
the game on a jumper. The Tartans had a chance to win the game in
regulation, but Cordts' drive to the hoop and layup was off the
mark sending the game into overtime.
Carnegie Mellon outscored La Roche 14-4 in the extra frame to
escape with a 74-64 victory. After shooting 10-of-18 from the foul
line in the first two frames, the Tartans were 10-of-11 from the
charity stripe in overtime to seal their eighth win of the
season.
Serbin hauled down a career-best 19 rebounds, helping the Tartans
outrebound their seventh opponent. Carnegie Mellon finished
with 49 boards to the Redhawks' 39. Carnegie Mellon ended the
night shooting 41.7% from the floor while La Roche shot 34.9%.
Cordts led all scorers with 26 points while Serbin finished with
16. Serbin also added career-highs of five assists and four steals
while finishing with five blocked shots. Senior Kevin
Stursberg (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Jacksonville Episcopal)
finished one rebound shy of his first career double-double, as the
forward scored a career-high 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
La Roche had three players in double figures with Zaire Redding
leading the way with 14 points. Redding also added 13
rebounds. Andres Abreu ended the night with 13 points while
Bonnaure had 11.