From Carnegie Mellon University Athletics

The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team competed in the championship game of the Carnegie Mellon DoubleTree Invitational on Sunday, November 27 and defeated Saint Vincent College 76-62.  With the victory, Carnegie Mellon improves to 3-2 while the Bearcats are now 3-3.

Senior Jack Serbin (New Albany, Ohio) was named the Most Valuable Player of the invitational. He finished the game with a season-high 30 points and grabbed a season-best 15 rebounds for the Tartans on his way to recording his third double-double of the season and 36th for his career. The senior finished perfect from the foul line connecting on all eight attempts. Tartan sophomore Seth Henry(Fulton, Md./Reservoir) was named to the all-tournament team, as he followed his career performance on Saturday with seven points and four rebounds in the win Sunday afternoon.

Carnegie Mellon started the game 1-of-7 from the field and trailed 4-3 four minutes into play, before scoring nine straight to take a 12-4 lead with 14:30 to play in the half. Saint Vincent then used an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 14-12 over the next three minutes. A three-point basket by junior Ryan Maha (West Mifflin, Pa.) and a layup by sophomore Patrick Ehland (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) on the Tartans next two possessions pushed the lead to 19-12.   

With the Tartans leading 31-25 late in the first half, Saint Vincent rattled off eight straight points to grab its first lead since early in the half at 33-31. The lead was one that was short-lived, as a Serbin layup and a free throw by freshman Zach Howarth (Freehold, N.J./St. John Vianney) to close the half gave the home team a 34-33 lead at the break.

The Tartans connected on their first four shots of the second half and went 4-of-6 from the charity stripe to extend the lead to 48-38 at the 15-minute mark. During the 14-5 run, Maha drained back-to-back treys and accounted for eight points. Carnegie Mellon maintained its lead the rest of the game and led by as many as 15, 60-45, following a long ball from Henry with just under 11 minutes to play.   

After shooting 35.9% from the floor in the first half, Carnegie Mellon finished the game shooting 44.8%. The Bearcats shot 41.2% from the floor for the contest. Maha was the only other Tartan to score in double figures with 15 points. Senior Chris Shkil (Mentor, Ohio/Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin) finished the game with nine points and nine rebounds while freshman Colin McNeil (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) handed out a season-best five assists.

Saint Vincent was led by Matt D'Amico's 16 points. Jason Capco and Tom Kromka ended with 11 and 10, respectively. Kromka was the Bearcats top rebounder with nine.