PITTSBURGH – Rochester blistered the nets with 70% shooting in the first half, opened a big lead, and went on to an 87-56 men's basketball victory at Carnegie Mellon University on Friday night.
 
The win pulls Rochester into a tie with Carnegie Mellon in the University Athletic Association standings. Rochester, ranked No. 8 in the current D3hoops.com poll, is 14-1 overall, 3-1 in the UAA. Carnegie Mellon is 9-6 overall, 3-1 in the UAA. When the night began, CMU and Washington were tied for first place in the UAA standings. Washington defeated Rochester, 81-76, in Rochester last Sunday.
 
Four players hit double figures for the Yellowjackets. Jacob Wittig scored a season's high 16 points. Mack Montague had 15, Andrew Lundstrom matched his career high with 14 points in 21 minutes off the bench, and Sam Borst-Smith had 10 points, four assists, one block, and two steals.
 
Montague's final basket, a driving layup with just under three minutes to play, was his 1,000th career point. He is the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 points. Men's basketball is in its 116th season.  
 
Ironically, the last three players to hit the 1,000-point mark did it against the Tartans. Borst-Smith reached the figure in Pittsburgh last season (an overtime loss).  Nate Vernon '14 did it in the Palestra against CMU as a senior.
 
For Carnegie Mellon, Jack Serbin had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Chris Shkil had nine points and seven boards. Zach Howarth had nine points and Ryan Maha scored seven.
 
CMU pulled within a point, 17-16, on a layup by Serbin with 12:21 left in the first half. Carnegie's shooting turned cold and Rochester energized. The Yellowjackets outscored the Tartans 33-9 over the last 11 minutes and hit seven 3-pointers in that run. It was 50-25 at halftime.
 
Rochester was 10-15 outside the arc in the first 20 minutes, 19-27 in all field goal attempts (70.4%). Carnegie made 10 of 34 from the floor in the opening half (29.4%) and two of 12 three-point tries (16.7%).
 
Notes: This was Rochester's first win in Skibo Gym for the three UR seniors: Borst-Smith, Mack Montague, and Zack Ayers…. Yellowjackets go to Cleveland to face Case Western Reserve on Sunday. Spartans lost to Emory, 91-81, Friday night and will be seeking their first UAA victory... Carnegie won four of the six previous games vs. Rochester – three at Skibo and one in the Palestra. Tartans come to Rochester on February 17.