Men’s Basketball Stuns #1 Washington (Mo.) University

Feb. 3 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men’s basketball team registered one of the biggest wins in school history on Sunday, shocking #1 ranked Washington (Mo.) University 86-55 in Skibo Gymnasium. The Tartans dominated the second half playing with an energy that the Bears couldn’t equal. Senior Greg Gonzalez (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) scored a game-high 20 points and junior guard Corey O’Rourke (Merion, Pa./St. Joe Prep) put together a near perfect performance, finishing a few assists away from collecting a triple-double.

A three-pointer by senior center Greg Gonzalez (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) gave the Tartans (13-5 overall, 3-4 in the University Athletic Association) a lead at 7-4 that they never relinquished. Junior forward Terrance Bouldin-Johnson (Tukwila, Wash.) picked up two early fouls guarding Bears (14-4 overall, 5-2 in the UAA) leading scorer Troy Ruths, but junior forward Rob Pearson (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and freshman forward Matthew Pettit (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) provided a spark off the bench and limited Ruths to 4-of-13 shooting in the first half. The Tartans played energized, corralling offensive rebounds and forcing turnovers. A three pointer from senior Geoff Kozak (Huntingdon, Pa.) increased the Tartan lead to 22-12 and a jumper from junior forward Ryan Einwag (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) sent the Tartans into halftime leading 38-28.

Bouldin-Johnson returned with a vengeance in the second half, scoring six straight points for Carnegie Mellon and assisting on a three-pointer from O’Rourke to expand the Tartan lead to 47-30. Shortly after that, Carnegie Mellon made five straight shots, including threes from Gonzalez, Kozak, and O’Rourke and before you could blink it was a 60-34 Carnegie Mellon advantage. The Tartans led by as much as 37 in the second half.

Every player on Carnegie Mellon scored, with the Tartans shooting 49.3% for the game and Washington finishing at 36.4%. The Bears couldn’t find a rhythm offensively, shooting 1-of-12 from behind the arc and on the other end of the floor the Tartans made eight three pointers along with pulling down 15 offensive rebounds. O’Rourke tallied 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and three steals in the win. Gonzalez just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Bouldin-Johnson scored all 12 of his points in the second half and Kozak finished with nine points, five assists, and a team-high four steals.

Ruths finished 5-of-14 from the field to lead the Bears with 16 points and nine rebounds. Junior forward Tyler Nading chipped in with 10 points but the Bears turned the ball over 22 times in the loss.

The next game for the Carnegie Mellon men’s basketball team will be on Friday, February 8 when they travel to St. Louis to take on this same Washington (Mo.) team. Game time is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. central time.