#16 Men’s Basketball Overrules Judges

Feb. 12 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Plagued by slow starts in their recent games, the Carnegie Mellon men’s basketball team came out running on all cylinders to defeat the visiting Brandeis University Judges 86-74 in University Athletic Association (UAA) action on Sunday, February 12. The host Tartans maintain their first place standing in the UAA while improving their record to 18-4 and 8-3 in the UAA. Brandeis falls to 12-10 overall and 5-6 in the UAA.

Both teams played at breakneck speed in the first half, with the Tartans jumping out to an early lead of 14-6 with 16:10 remaining. The Tartans would never relinquish this lead the rest of the game, despite numerous Brandeis charges. The Tartans, behind senior forward Clayton Barlow-Wilcox’s (Brookline, Mass.) ten first half points, managed to take a 47-40 lead into the intermission.

Brandeis attempted to tailor the game to a more conservative pace in the second half, but was never able to seriously threaten the Tartans in the final twenty minutes. Sophomore guard Geoff Kozak (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon Area) stepped up and delivered a string of nifty plays at the eight minute mark when he scored on consecutive trips down the floor and then fed Barlow-Wilcox for a lay-up to push the Tartan lead to 75-62. The Tartans maintained their lead the rest of the way to win by 12.

Four Tartans scored in double figures with Barlow-Wilcox leading the way with 16 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Nate Maurer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Linsly School) added 15 points and nine boards, and senior forward Marques Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) contributed 14 in the win. Kozak chipped in with 12, ten coming in the second half, and guard A.J. Straub (St. Mary’s Pa./Elk County Catholic) wasted no time increasing his consecutive game streak of making a three-pointer to 25 straight games when he sank one from downtown 49 seconds into the game. The youthful Judges, who have no seniors and only one junior on their roster, were led by Steve DeLuca’s 27 points and seven rebounds.

Carnegie Mellon and Brandeis both cooled off after shooting over 53% in the first half to finish at 50% and 45.2%, respectively. The Tartans held a 40-27 edge in the rebounding department and registered seven blocks to the Judges’ none. The Tartan rebounding edge was especially evident on the offensive end, as they managed 18 second chance points to Brandeis’ six.

The Carnegie Mellon men’s basketball team will next play on Friday, February 17 when they travel to Atlanta to square off against UAA opponent Emory University. The game is scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. The two teams met here at Skibo Gymnasium on January 22 with the Tartans edging the Eagles 96-88.