St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 25, 2019 – The Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team moved into a four-way tie for first place in the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings with a 68-56 win over Carnegie Mellon University Friday at the WU Field House in St. Louis.

Junior forward DeVaughn Rucker recorded the first double-double of his career with 19 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, while junior center Hank Hunter posted his third-straight double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

WashU improved to 11-6 and 4-2 in the UAA, while Carnegie Mellon dropped its third-straight contest and fell to 8-9 and 3-3 in the conference. WashU, Chicago, Emory and Rochester are all tied for first with eight conference games remaining.

Freshman forward Justin Hardy added 11 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Matt Nester had 11 points, four assists and a pair of steals. WashU shot 47.5 percent (29-61) from the field and outrebounded CMU 47-29.

Trailing by one at half, Nester hit the Bears first three-pointer of the game with 15:16 left to trim the CMU lead to 37-36. A jumper by senior center Marcus Meyer gave WashU a 43-42 lead, and then a bucket by Hunter made it a three-point contest.

Leading by one (51-50) with less than nine minutes to play, Rucker ignited an 8-0 run with six-straight points to push the lead to nine. The lead grew to 10 with a bucket by Meyer, who had eight points off the bench on 4-of-4 shooting. The Bears shot 54.8 percent (17-31) from the field in the second half.

WashU struggled the field hitting just three of their first 12 shots from the field and committed six turnovers and trailed 10-6 early in the contest. Two free-throws by junior guard Matt Nester and a bucket by Hunter tied the contest at 10-10. 

Carnegie Mellon took their largest lead of the game at 27-20 with 2:27 left before half and forced a full timeout by WashU. The Bears ended the half on a 6-0 run, highlighted by a fast-break dunk by Hunter to trim the CMU lead to 27-26.

WashU shot 40 percent (12-30) from the field in the first half and had 11 turnovers. Hunter led the Bears with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Trent Suddeth led Carnegie Mellon with 16 points and six rebounds in the loss. The Tartans were limited to 37.1 percent (23-62) shooting from the field, and kept it close by hitting 6-of-20 three pointers.

WashU hosts Case Western Reserve University (9-8, 2-4 UAA) Sunday, Jan. 27, at Noon. The Spartans upset Chicago 85-80 Friday night in the Windy City.

BEAR NOTEBOOK: WashU leads the all-time series with Carnegie 53-9, and the Bears have won seven-straight meetings … Head coach Pat Juckem picked up career win number 210 … Hunter has seven double-doubles this season …The Bears recorded five blocks and hit a season-low one three pointer (1-for-12).