Brandeis (6-15, 3-8) trailed by as many as 18 points at in the first half. The Judges hit three of their first four shots to take an early 8-4 lead, but Carnegie Mellon (12-10, 4-7 UAA) held the home team without a field goal for eight minutes. The Tartans scored 22 unanswered points, forcing seven turnovers while connecting on nine-of-10 shots from the floor. CMU led 26-8 on freshman center Greg Gonzalez’ (Southlake, Texas) lay-up with 9:39 left in the half. Brandeis was able to finish strong, cutting the lead to nine points on senior center Bryan Lambert’s (Auburn, Maine) lay-up with 16 seconds on the clock, but Carnegie Mellon’s junior guard Michael Divens (Trafford, Pa.) answered just before the buzzer to make the game 44-33 in the Tartans’ favor at the break. CMU sophomore forward Clayton Barlow-Wilcox (Brookline, Mass.) led all players with 13 points in the first stanza, while Lambert had 12 for the Judges.
The Judges opened the second half with an 18-5 run over the first seven minutes. Senior forward Ben Bosanac (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) was key in the run, scoring eight points on a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws. The Judges took a 51-49 lead on Lambert’s bucket with 14:03 left on the clock, but Tartan junior guard Elliot Goren (Silver Spring, Md.) made steals on three straight Brandeis possessions to give the visitors the lead back on a traditional three-point play, 54-51, just over a minute later. CMU pushed the lead to as many as 10 points with 6:31 left, but Brandeis hung tough, twice getting the lead back to within three points. With the score 77-74 and 36 seconds on the clock, Goren made another steal to clinch the game for the Tartans.
Lambert led all players with 27 points and 13 rebounds for his sixth double-double in the last seven games. He hit 12-of-15 from the floor, including two-of-three from beyond the arc. Bosanac added 20 points and eight caroms, but no other Brandeis player reached double figures. Junior guard Stu Pradia (Houston, Texas) led all players with eight assists.
For Carnegie Mellon, Barlow-Wilcox led the way with 23 points. He hit seven-of-nine from the floor and was a perfect nine-of-nine from the free throw line. Senior forward Matt Kaitz (Scarsdale, N.Y.) added 14 points. Goren had a fine all-around game with 13 points, seven assists, six steals and two blocked sots. Divens rounded out the Tartans’ scorers in double figures with 11. He also had a team-high eight rebounds. CMU hit 54.5 percent from the floor (30-55), including 62.1 percent in the first half (18-29).
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