MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny offense was held in check by the visiting Carnegie Mellon Tartans, who handed the Gators a 73-52 defeat at the David V. Wise Center.
The Gators shot just 37 percent from the field, including a 1-for-19 showing from behind the three-point line, to fall to 3-2 on the season, while Carnegie Mellon extended its season-opening winning streak to five games.

Brandon Smith had a team-high 14 points for the Gators, going 5-for-6 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line, while Evan Zabriski was a second Allegheny player in double figures, with 13 points.

The game started out at a furious pace, as the teams exchanged the lead five times, and combined to score on 11 of 15 possessions, over the first five minutes of play.  Zabriski scored six points for the Gators over the span, and Smith, Conor Macomber, and Chris Milon two apiece, as the Tartans led 13-12 at the five-minute mark.

The teams would continue to trade buckets over the next several minutes, but the Gators were unable to regain the lead.  Baskets by Josh Valentic at the 14-minute mark, and Evan Schweitzer with 11 minutes left, would pull the Gators to within one score, before the Tartans went on a long 8-0 run to take a 26-16 lead with 5:56 left in the half.

Four points by Smith in a 90-second span cut the Tartan lead to 28-20 with four minutes remaining, but the visitors then scored on two of their final three possessions of the first half to take a 32-23 advantage into the locker room.

Smith and Zabriski opened the second half with buckets on each of the Gators' first two possessions to cut the gap to 34-27, but the visitors surged back, outscoring Allegheny 17-3 over a four-minute span to up their lead to 47-30 with 15:35 left in regulation.

After Smith and Schweitzer scored on consecutive Gator trips to cut the gap to 47-34, the Tartans knocked down a pair of three pointers in a 45-second span to kick start a 10-2 run that extended the lead to 57-36 with 11 minutes to go.

The Gators then looked to climb back into it, and their first three-pointer of the night, hit by Macomber with 3:52 left, capped off a 16-8 run to pull to within 13 at 65-52.   It proved to be Allegheny's final bucket of the night, however, as CMU scored the game's final seven points to close out the win.

Nine different players found the scoring column for the Gators in the loss, with Milon adding six points and Macomber and Isaiah Henderson five apiece.  Milon and Zabriski each had four rebounds to tie for the team lead, as Allegheny was out-rebounded 36-33 for the night.

The Tartans, who shot 58 percent (15-for-26) over the final 20 minutes, were led on the score sheet by Jack Serbin, who tallied game-highs of 21 points and seven rebounds.  Matt Hillman added nine points and five assists, while Ryan Maha scored nine points, on the strength of a 3-for-5 mark from long range.

Allegheny will look to bounce back when they wrap up a two-game home stand this Saturday, Nov. 29, against local non-conference rival Penn State-Behrend.  Tip-off at the Wise Center is slated for 4 p.m.