St. Louis, Mo., February 1, 2013 – The No. 21 ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team shot 53 percent from the field and had a season-high 28 assists in a 90-72 win over Carnegie Mellon University in University Athletic Association (UAA) play Friday in St. Louis.

Junior forward Chris Klimek led all scorers with 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting, while senior center Robert Burnett (13 points), senior guard Ben Hoener (13 points) and junior guard Alan Aboona (11 points) also scored in double figures. 

Sophomore forward Matt Palucki added eight points and nine rebounds, as Washington U. outrebounded Carnegie Mellon 43-38. The Bears have outrebounded 16 of 19 opponents this season. Washington U. also committed a season-low seven turnovers in the win.

The Bears hit seven of their first nine shots from the field and jumped out to an early 15-7 lead with 15:47 left in the first half. Washington U. continued to get open shots against the Carnegie Mellon defense as a three-pointer by Palucki pushed the advantage to double figures at 20-9.

Asad Meghani kept Carnegie Mellon in the contest with a pair of three pointers to trim the lead to 20-15, but a 10-4 run by the Bears made it 30-19 after another triple by Palucki. Washington U. took its largest lead of the first half with 41 seconds to play after senior Max Needle found Aboona underneath for lay-up to make it 51-35 at half.

Washington U. shot 62.5 percent (20-32) from the field in the opening half, and hit 5-of-10 from three-point range. Klimek (12), Aboona (11) and Burnett (10) all scored in double figures for the Bears in the opening half. Washington U. had 17 assists on 20 field goals in the opening 20 minutes.

Carnegie Mellon (4-15, 1-7 UAA) cut the Washington U. lead to 13 (57-44) with a lay-up by Andre Moore, but back-to-back three's by junior guards Kevin Bischoff and Tim Cooney got the lead back over 20 at 65-44. The Tartans got the lead down to 14 on two occasions with less than seven minutes to play, but that is as close as CMU would get.

Meghani (17) and Moore (15) scored in double figures for Carnegie Mellon, which shot 39.1 percent (27-69) from the field, including 9-of-30 from three-point range. CMU had 17 assists and just eight turnovers, but were outscored 50-28 in the paint.

Washington University (15-4, 5-3 UAA) continues conference play at home against Case Western Reserve University Sunday, Feb. 3, at Noon. The Spartans were defeated at the University of Chicago 81-73 Friday in the Windy City.

Bear Notebook: Washington University leads the all-time series with Carnegie Mellon, 43-8, and the Bears have won 11 of the last 12 meetings … The Bears are 11-1 this season when leading at the half … Washington U. is 6-1 at home in 2012-13 and has an 85-12 record dating back to the 2005-06 season … The Bears picked up their 270th all-time win in UAA play, most in conference history … Washington U. is 6-0 on Friday … Klimek has scored in double figures in 16 of 19 games played … Hoener went over 500 points for his career in the win … Carnegie Mellon is 0-6 against top-25 opponents this season.