Tartans Open Season with 90-83 Win at La Roche

Tartans Open Season with 90-83 Win at La Roche

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The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team traveled to La Roche University on Friday night to open its 2025-26 campaign. The Tartans left La Roche with first-year head coach Justin Simon's first win at the helm of the Tartans with a 90-83 victory.

Game Information
Carnegie Mellon 90, La Roche 83
Records: Carnegie Mellon (1-0), La Roche (0-1)
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. (Kerr Fitness Center | Coach Scott Lang Court)

How it Happened

  • A triple by senior Buckley DeJardin followed by three converted foul shots from junior Isaac Higgs gave the Tartans a 13-10 lead with 14:46 to play in the first half.
  • Two minutes later the Redhawks knotted the score at 14-all before taking a 21-20 lead at the midway mark.
  • Carnegie Mellon then scored seven unanswered and led 27-21.
  • With 4:30 to play a triple by La Roche's Logan Golle gave the home team a 1-point lead at 33-31, but the Tartans scored 10 of the next 12 points before taking a 48-42 lead into the break.
  • La Roche opened the second half with a 12-4 run over the first five minutes and took a 54-52 advantage.
  • The Redhawks maintained the lead over the next five minutes, but back-to-back dunks by Tartan sophomore Evan Mirazimi and graduate student Nikola Dimitrijevic tied the score at 63-63, as the Tartans pushed their run to 8-1 and led 67-64 with eight minutes to play.
  • The rest of the way was played tight with neither team leading by more than four points until the closing minute, as there were four ties and two lead changes.
  • With 1:36 on the clock and the score tied at 80-all, Higgs converted the traditional three-point play to give the Tartans the 83-80 lead.
  • Thirty seconds later, graduate student Sam Adusei drained two foul shots to extend the Tartans lead to 85-80, as the Tartans went for the 90-83 victory.

Tartan Stats

  • The Tartans ended the game shooting 57.7% (30-52) from the floor and converted 6-of-14 (42.9%) from behind the arc.
  • The Tartans scored 48 points in the pain to the Redhawks 30.
  • Five Tartans scored in double figures with Higgs leading the way with a career-high 27 points after converting 6-of-11 from the floor and 12-of-16 from the charity strip.
  • Dimitrijevic poured in a career-best 19 points as he handed out a career-high six assists and grabbed seven rebounds
  • Adusei ended with 15 points, Mirazimi a career-best 13 points while DeJardin chipped in with 10 points and tied a career-high with four assists.

Redhawk Stats

  • The Redhawks ended the game shooting 44.3% (31-70) from the floor and converted 9-25 (36.0%) from behind the arc.
  • Bryce Epps led La Roche with 19 points. Major Rainey finished with 16 points while Jefferson "Boogie" Moorefield-Brown Jr. and Golle each had 14 points.