Tartans Fall 103-45 In Preseason Clash With Pitt

Nov. 1 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon men’s basketball team began their preseason Wednesday, November 1 against the fifth ranked Panthers of Pittsburgh, a Division I powerhouse. Although the Tartans fell to the Panthers 103-45 at the Peterson Events Center, Coach Tony Wingen’s young team gained plenty from the loss.

“We knew it was a tall effort,” Wingen said. “Tonight’s game and every day in practice was a learning experience. We’re very young right now, we’re inexperienced and everyday we’re trying to get better, and tonight’s game was in that vein. We learned a lot about ourselves tonight.”

Pitt jumped out to a 21-2 lead in the game’s opening eight minutes mainly by attacking the basket with their size advantage. On the defensive end, the Panthers, led by preseason Big East Player of the Year senior center Aaron Gray, who grabbed seven rebounds in first five minutes, controlled the ball during the games early minutes.

Turnovers and the Panthers’ stingy defense kept the Tartans without a field goal until junior guard Geoff Kozak (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) snuck past a Panther defender and banked in a lay-up to cut the lead to 17 (21-4). Pitt continued to dominate inside the key with sophomore forward Tyrell Biggs and junior guard Mike Cook who each posted eight points in the first half.

A three-pointer by sophomore forward Ryan Einwag (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) narrowed the score to 31-11, but Pitt’s ability to run the floor and get the ball inside to Gray and Biggs quickly pushed their lead to 26 (39-13) at the 3:54 mark. With under a minute remaining before both teams headed to the locker room, senior guard Brad Matta (White Oak, Pa./Serra Catholic), who led the Tartans with six points in the first half, nailed a baseline jumper to complete the first half scoring with Pitt owning a 48-17 advantage.

Einwag helped the Tartans to a promising second half start by draining his second three pointer of the game. Pitt junior guard Ronald Ramon quickly answered, however, with a three of his own. With Gray consistently scoring and pulling down rebounds (12 points and 15 boards on the evening), the Panthers pushed their lead to 64-25 five minutes into the second half.

“I have a lot of respect for Carnegie Mellon and Coach [Wingen] and Coach Pastorkovich. Obviously we have a size advantage and they’re young too,” Panthers’ Head Coach Jamie Dixon said. “They beat Princeton last year; they won their league last year, so it’s a very good program. We have a lot of respect for their program.”

Five straight points by Einwag on back-to-back Carnegie Mellon possessions highlighted the Tartans scoring midway through the second half. Once Gray headed to the bench the Panthers turned to the outside game and drained several of their three pointers (eight-for-28) to pad their lead to 86-34 with 8:00 showing on the clock.

As time began to wind down, the Tartans kept battling as three free throws from freshman guard Dan Sawl (Irwin, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) and two long range jumpers by Kozak inched the Tartans closer, but the Panthers came away with a comfortable 103-45 victory.

Einwig (5-for-11) led the Tartans with 13 points while Kozak posted 12. Despite the loss, Matta, who netted 10 points and led the squad with six rebounds, saw great value in facing the national championship contender.

“The next 24 games we can always look back when we are in a slump or when we’re up against adversity and we can basically say we went against the University off Pittsburgh, a top-five team in the nation,” commented Matta. “We fought hard and did the best we could and we came out with some positive outcomes.”

The Tartans open up their regular season on November 17 when they travel to Washington & Jefferson for a 10 p.m. tip-off in the annual West Penn Classic.