Men’s Basketball Opens Season With 81-73 Setback at Johns Hopkins

Nov. 16 – (BALTIMORE, Md.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men’s basketball team opened their 2007-08 campaign at the 17th Annual Blue Jay Invitational hosted by Johns Hopkins University, Friday, November 16. The Tartans dropped an 81-73 decision to the host Blue Jays starting their season 0-1, as Hopkins starts 1-0.

Carnegie Mellon junior Ryan Einwag (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) gave the Tartans a 2-0 lead 22 seconds into the contest, but over the next 7:22 Johns Hopkins went on a 14-1 run taking a 14-3 lead with 12:16 to play in the first stanza. The Blue Jays run was stopped when freshman Matthew Pettit (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) found junior Rob Pearson (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) for a Tartan basket. Hopkins continued to dominate over the next seven minutes of play, as they took a 35-19 lead with 5:07 showing on the clock.

The Tartans ended the first half on a 13-4 run cutting the Blue Jays lead to 39-32 heading into the locker room. During the Cardinal and Gray’s run Einwag and Pettit accounted for eight of the Tartans points, as Einwag finished the half with 16 points, shooting four-of-five from the field including a one trey. His three-pointer with 10:06 on the clock extended Carnegie Mellon’s streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer to 161 games.

Despite Einwag’s play, the Tartans shot 35.7% from the field to the Blue Jays 43.3% in the first half. Hopkins was led by senior Doug Polster with 13 first half points.

The Blue Jays came out strong in the second half and pushed their lead back to 14 (50-36) a little over four minutes into the half. The Tartans trailed 71-54 late in the second half, but six straight points from sophomore Jack Anderson (Beaver Falls, Pa.) cut the Tartans deficit to 11 (71-60) with 6:01 left in regulation. Anderson’s showing started a 17-4 run for the Tartans making the score 75-71 with 1:14 to play, but that is as close as they got, as Hopkins scored six of the last eight points for the 81-73 victory.

Leading the way for the Tartans was Einwag with 18 points. Anderson finished the night tying his career-high with 14 points, 13 coming in the second half. Senior Geoff Kozak (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) finished with 13 points, while senior Greg Gonzalez (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) moved into third place on the school’s all-time block list with three blocks in the loss. Gonzalez now has 91 career blocks. Junior Terrance Bouldin-Johnson (Tukwila, Wash./O’Dea) also recorded three blocks marking a career-high.

For Hopkins, Polster led all scorers with 26 points, while freshman Patrick O'Connell cashed in with 14 and junior Collin Kamm tallied 12 in the win. In the loss the Tartans held the edge on the glass hauling in 44 boards to the Blue Jays 42. Hopkins shot 40% from the field to the Tartans 36.1%.

The Tartans will be back in action Saturday, November 17 as they play New York City College of Technology in the consolation game of the Blue Jay Invitational. Tech lost 91-62 to Richard Stockton in the first game of the invitational. Tip-off is set for 6:00 pm.