Sophomore Scott Stone just missed a triple-double as he finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Senior Ryan DeBoer also scored in double figures for the Bears as he notched12 points and six rebounds.
The Bears opened the game with another strong start as Washington U. hit their first six shots, including two alley-oop dunks from junior Anthony Hollins and seven points from Bryant to take a 13-4 lead with 17:35 left in the first half. The Bears had a 28-21 advantage before Carnegie Mellon answered with a 9-1 run to gain its first lead of the game at 30-29.
Keller then got the hot hand for the Bears as he scored the final 11 points of the half by draining three consecutive three-pointers and scoring on a driving lay-up at the buzzer, giving WU a 50-40 advantage at halftime.
Washington U. shot a blistering 54.5 percent (18-of-33) from the field in the opening half, including 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from beyond the arc. Bryant had 16 points to lead the Bears while Keller added 13. Stone added nine points, seven rebounds and four assists in the first half.
The Bears held leads of 66-63 and 72-67 in the second half before Stone connected on a 25-foot three-pointer as the shot clock expired to push the lead to 75-67 with 7:33 to play. Carnegie Mellon (11-7, 3-4 UAA) would get no closer as the Bears hit 11-of-12 free-throws in the final three minutes to secure the victory. Clayton Barlow-Wilcox led CMU with 24 points and 11 points in the loss.
Washington University (13-5, 5-2 UAA) returns to action on Fri., Feb. 6 against Carnegie Mellon University. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at the WU Field House.