The Yellowjackets finished with a 12-2 record in UAA play, 21-4 overall. Rochester finished two games ahead of Carnegie Mellon (10-4, 18-6). The Tartans would have won the UAA crown with a victory today. If they won, they would have tied UR at 11-3 and won the automatic bid on the strength of a sweep of the Yellowjackets. CMU defeated Rochester, 78-71, in Pittsburgh on December 4.
Pittsburgh native Brendan McAllister (Upper St. Clair HS) did most of the damage to his hometown team. He scored a career high 24 points, including six three-point goals. His game-breaking shot came on a 10-foot runner in the lane with 24 seconds left. It gave Rochester a 60-55 lead and was the first basket Rochester scored in more than five minutes.
Jon Onyiriuka (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post W.) scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Rochester. All-American forward Seth Hauben (Newton, MA/Newton South) scored nine points, but grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.
Clayton Barlow-Wilcox (Brookline, MA/Brookline) scored 14 points for CMU and grabbed eight rebounds. Nate Maurer (Pittsburgh, PA/Linsly School) had 11 points and seven rebounds.
“It was the kind of game I expected,” said Rochester coach Mike Neer. “We expected both teams to be tight and both teams’ shooting reflected that, especially in the first half.”
Barlow-Wilcox had eight points by halftime, but Maurer was scoreless. The Tartans hit 39% from the floor (11 of 28). Rochester was 11 of 32 (34%) with Onyiriuka the only effective shooter. He hit five of seven, much of it on putbacks. Hauben was 1 of 7 from the floor and had two points at intermission. “Sometimes, our best offense is to put it on the glass,” Neer said.
In the second half, the game turned into spurts. McAllister sank two three-pointers in a span of 23 seconds to cap a 10-0 run that gave Rochester a 44-29 lead with 15:00 left. CMU came out of a timeout and ran off nine straight points. A layup and foul shot by Jason Walters (Providence, RI/Country Day) pulled the Tartans within 44-38 with 12:48 to go.
McAllister hit back to back threes, upping the lead to 50-38 with 9:56 left.
“That was a senior who stepped up and made some huge shots,” said CMU coach Tony Wingen. “Those threes were a turning point in the game.”
Carnegie rallied. Barlow-Wilcox sank two free throws. Then Michael Divens (Trafford, PA/Penn Trafford) and Eliot Goren (Silver Spring, MD/Bullis School) made layups. It was 58-55 with 45 seconds remaining.
McAllister hit his runner. Goren made two of three free throws at 0:05. Ryan Mee (Hilton, NY/Hilton) clinched it for Rochester with two free throws with 0:03 left.
“When we lost there, I was 1 for 10,” McAllister said. “I remembered that. And the other difference is that Gabe Perez (Corpus Christi, TX/Calallen) does a great job finding me in the right spot.”
Carnegie Mellon’s 18 wins ties the single-season victory record. The Tartans will see if they can earn a Pool C (at-large) bid to the NCAAs or if they get an ECAC bid. “I’m very proud of our effort,” Wingen said. “We battled them. We just didn’t make enough plays or shots.”
ROCHESTER 62, CARNEGIE MELLON 57 CARNEGIE MELLON (18-6, 10-4 UAA) Barlow-Wilcox, C. 5-12 4-5 14; Maurer, Nate 4-11 2-2 11; Divens, Michael 4-13 0-0 8; Goren, Eliot 3-7 2-3 8; Straub, A.J. 2-8 2-2 7; Walters, Jason 2-3 1-1 5; Gonzalez, Greg 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 22-57 11-13 57. ROCHESTER (21-4, 12-2 UAA) McAllister, Brendan 8-14 2-2 24; Onyiriuka, Jon 5-9 2-4 12; Hauben, Seth 4-13 1-7 9; Juron, Jeff 2-5 2-3 7; Perez, Gabe 1-7 4-7 6; Brackney, Tim 1-3 0-0 2; Mee, Ryan 0-3 2-2 2; Canty, Joe 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 13-25 62. Carnegie Mellon............... 25 32 - 57 Rochester..................... 29 33 - 62 3-point goals-Carnegie Mellon 2-17 (Maurer, Nate 1-5; Straub, A.J. 1-5; Goren, Eliot 0-2; Divens, Michael 0-4; Barlow-Wilcox, C. 0-1), Rochester 7-20 (McAllister, Brendan 6-11; Juron, Jeff 1-2; Perez, Gabe 0-1; Brackney, Tim 0-2; Mee, Ryan 0-3; Canty, Joe 0-1). Fouled out--Carnegie Mellon-Maurer, Nate, Rochester-None. Rebounds-Carnegie Mellon 35 (Walters, Jason 8; Barlow-Wilcox, C. 8), Rochester 42 (Hauben, Seth 16). Assists-Carnegie Mellon 8 (Walters, Jason 3), Rochester 6 (Perez, Gabe 4). Total fouls-Carnegie Mellon 17, Rochester 15. A-1522