WALTHAM, Mass. – In a game that featured seven ties and 17 lead changes, the visiting Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team closed the game on a 7-3 run to escape from Red Auerbach Arena with an 80-77 win over the host Brandeis University Judges in a key University Athletic Association match-up tonight.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 13-8, 4-6 UAA.
• Carnegie Mellon: 13-8, 5-5 UAA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Judges built a 40-30 halftime lead by outscoring CMU, 20-5, over the final 6:21 of the period.
•  Junior Gilbert Otoo (Burtonsville, Md./St. Vincent Palotti) kicked off the run with six of his 15 first-half points, while senior Sam Adusei (Worcester, Mass./St. George's School) put the team in front with a fast-break lay-up.
• Nolan Casey led Carnegie Mellon with nine points in the first half.
• The visitors quickly got back in the game, scoring the first seven points of the second half.
• The Tartans took their first lead of the second half on a bucket by RJ Holmes that made it 46-45 in visitors' favor with 15:24 left.
• Brandeis answered with a 3-pointer from sophomore Quron Zene (Windsor, Conn./IMG Academy)
• The game quickly became the Justin Allen show, as the Tartans' sophomore scored all 25 of his points in the second 20 minutes. He tied the game and then gave CMU a 51-50 lead with a 3-pointer with 14:19 to go.
• The Judges kept within one possession, and Adusei started to heat up as well, scoring five unanswered points to put Brandeis back in the lead, 61-59, with 9:15 to go.
• The squads traded buckets, and Brandeis twice was able to push their lead to four points from the free-throw line.  
• CMU trailed, 67-63, after a pair of Otoo foul shots with 5:29 to go. The Tartans responded and went back on top thanks to Allen's trifecta with 3:06 on the clock that made it 71-69.
• Otoo answered with a long ball of his own, Allen put Carnegie Mellon on top again, 73-72.
• This time it was Brandeis sophomore Jake Bender (Hope, R.I./St. George's School) who dialed long distance, giving Brandeis a 75-73 lead with 2:13 remaining.
• CMU's Jack Stone tied things up from the line, and after the visitors got a stop, Allen drove the lane, converted a lay-up and drew foul for a traditional three-point play and the lead.
• Carnegie Mellon got a stop on the next Brandeis possession, but Brandeis answered with a steal and a lay-up by sophomore Matthew Cadogan () with 33 seconds to go to cut the deficit to one.
• The Judges tried to call a timeout after the make, but were not granted one by the referees, and Allen scored a driving lay-up with seven seconds to push the lead back to three points. Brandeis burned a couple of timeouts to draw up a play to try to force overtime, but their final effort was off the mark.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Otoo and Adusei provided most of the offense for the Judges, with Otoo finishing with 22 points and Adusei 20. They combined to shoot 13-26 from the field (50%), 5-12 from 3-point range (42%) and 11-11 from the line (100%).
• Otoo led the way with 13 of his 22 in the first half, while Adusei scored 13 of his 20 in the second.
• The duo also tied with Zene for team-high honors with four each.
• Senior Aedan Using (Old Lyme, Conn./Old Lyme) stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, a career-high seven assists, four steals and two blocked shots.
• CMU was led by Allen and his fantastic second half. After going 0-2 from the field in the first half, he was 8-12 in the second, including 3-5 from 3-point range and 6-6 from the line.
• Nolan Casey finished with 16 points, a game-high eight rebounds and team-highs of three assists and three steals. Holmes scored 14 points and Jonathon Milloway had 10 points off the bench.
• Carnegie owned a 31-25 advantage on the boards, and the Tartans shot 58% in the second half, compared to 46% in the first.

UP NEXT

• Brandeis will host #10 Case Western Reserve on Sunday afternoon in search of a season split with Spartans, having lost in Cleveland by two points earlier this season.