PITTSBURGH, Pa. (November 26, 2023) – In its first game after Thanksgiving Break, the Denison University men’s basketball team came up short by 10 points, 71-61, on the road in nonconference action against Carnegie Mellon University on Sunday afternoon.

Denison trailed by just six points (36-30) at the half despite shooting 33.3 percent (11-33) overall, 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) from three and 4-of-12 (33.3 percent) from the free throw line.

Scotty Dean connected on three 3-pointers in the first half and then hit his fourth shot from long range two minutes into the second half to make it a five-point game (38-33).

A minute later, Dean took his time underneath the rim and finished with a layup to make it a three-point game (40-37).

The Big Red got to within three of the Tartans three more times in the next four minutes but could not get closer, and that allowed CMU to build its lead to eight points (51-43) with 12 minutes left, nine points (55-46) with nine minutes remaining and then to double digits (60-50) for the first time with under five minutes to play.

A 3-pointer for the Tartans then made it a 13-point margin (63-50) with four and a half minutes left, and then a finger roll layup capped what was a 9-0 run to make it 65-50 with four minutes to go. Denison missed four straight shots from three during the deciding run.

Although Dean shot 50 percent from both the field (6-12) and from three (5-10) en route to finishing with a season-high 17 points, Denison was only 8-for-31 (25.8 percent) from three for the game.

In addition to shooting a season-low 34.3 percent from the field, the Big Red also left valued points at the free throw line as they were just 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from the stripe.

Denison did outscore CMU 19-13 in second chance points and 13-10 in points off turnovers.

Other top performances for the Big Red were freshman Kellon Smith with a career-high 11 points, Tyler Miller with nine points and eight rebounds, and Ricky Radtke with eight points and a season-best 11 rebounds. Cameron Smith also added a career-high seven rebounds.

It was the home opener for Carnegie Mellon, which improved to 5-1 on the season while Denison fell to 2-4.

Next up, Denison will open up North Coast Athletic Conference action on the road at Hiram College beginning at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 29.