February 18, 2007

Chicago Gains Sole Possession of UAA Lead

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Senior Brandon Woodhead (Lincoln, Neb./ East) scored a game-high 21 points and junior Nate Hainje (Brownsburg, Ind./ Brownsburg) turned in a double-double as the 14th-ranked University of Chicago men's basketball team defeated Carnegie Mellon University 82-75 in University Athletic Association play Sunday at Skibo Gymnasium.

The victory moved Chicago (20-4 overall, 11-2 UAA) into sole possession of first place in the conference standings. The Maroons surpassed Washington (Mo.) University (10-3 UAA), which dropped a 66-61 decision Sunday at the University of Rochester. Chicago travels to St. Louis to meet Washington in the regular season finale on Saturday.

Chicago led for all but the first 61 seconds of the contest. The Maroons built their largest lead of the day, 36-22, late in the first half before Carnegie Mellon (12-11, 5-8) closed the gap to 39-31 at the break.

A basket by Woodhead and a three-point play by Hainje in the first minute of the second stanza increased the Maroons' advantage to 44-31. Hainje collected 17 points and 11 boards en route to his second double-double of the season.

With Chicago ahead 50-39 at the 16:41 mark, the Tartans went on an 11-2 run to narrow the Maroons' lead to 52-50 with 12:24 remaining. Ryan Einwag scored seven of his 20 points during that stretch. He and Geoff Kozak both tallied 20 points for the Tartans.

Freshman Jake Pancratz's (Schaumburg, Ill./ Schaumburg) three-pointer at the 10:37 mark gave Chicago a 59-51 lead, but the Tartans scored the next five points to cut the deficit to three points, 59-56, with 9:53 left.

Chicago answered with an 8-1 run which made the score 69-57 in favor of the Maroons at the 5:59 mark. The Tartans could get no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Junior Matt Corning (Wauconda, Ill./ Mundelein) scored 11 points off the bench as Chicago won its fourth straight and 11th in its last 12 outings.

Box Score