St. Louis, Mo., January 28, 2011 – Sophomore Robert Burnett recorded his first-career double-double in his first-career start as the Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team held on to pick up a 70-62 victory over Carnegie Mellon University on Friday night at the Washington University Field House in St. Louis, Mo.
Burnett scored a career-high 12 points to go along with a career-best 13 rebounds to lead the Bears to a hard-fought University Athletic Association (UAA) win. Burnett's biggest bucket of the night came with under a minute to play, when junior Dylan Richter fed him for a wide-open lay-up with just 57 seconds remaining to give Washington U. a five-point lead.
Senior Spencer Gay led the Bears with 16 points to go along with nine rebounds. He also swatted four shots, which moved him into ninth-place in school history with 84-career blocks. Richter added 14 points with six assists and four rebounds.
Washington University shot just 34.4 percent (11-of-32) from the field in the first half but still managed to take a six-point lead into the intermission thanks to Carnegie Mellon's own scoring struggles and strong contributions from senior Caleb Knepper and freshman Will Patt off the bench.
Carnegie Mellon (5-11, 2-4 UAA) opened the game shooting just 1-of-9 from the field and Washington University led 7-2 early on. The Tartans responded with a 10-5 run, briefly taking 13-12 lead on a pair of Matthew Pettit free-throws, but Knepper came right back and drained back-to-back threes to stretch the WUSTL lead back to five points.
The Bears led for the remainder of the period and matched their largest lead of six points when Gay stripped Christian Manoli at the top of the key leading to sophomore Ben Hoener feeding fellow classmate Max Needle for a transition lay-up as time expired in the half.
Gay and Knepper each scored eight points to lead the Bears in the first period while Patt added six points. Washington University outscored Carnegie Mellon 14-1 off the bench and 10-4 in points off turnovers, forcing eight Tartan giveaways.
Big runs from both teams to start the second half did not result in a net gain for either team six minutes into the second period. The Bears scored the first nine points of the half to jump ahead by 15 points, 39-24, but Carnegie Mellon answered with an 8-0 run of its own to cut its deficit back to seven points.
A John Duhring three-pointer with nine minutes to play brought the Tartans to within four points, but Richter drained a trey of his own 30 seconds later to put the Bears back in front by seven. 
Twice more Carnegie Mellon pulled within four points but as unable to come any closer until Rashaun Riley sprinted down the floor for a fast-break lay-up at the 4:54 mark to make the WUSTL lead just two, but the Tartans never tied the game or took a lead.
Manoli led three Carnegie Mellon players in double figures with 18 points. Pettit (11) and Duhring (10) also scored in double figures for the Tartans. Carnegie shot 40 percent from the field but just 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from three-point range. Washington U. shot 41.9 percent as a team and outrebounded CMU by a 41-35 margin.
Washington University (9-8, 3-3 UAA) closes out its two-game homestand against Case Western Reserve University on Sunday, Jan. 30, at Noon.
Bear Notebook: Washington University has now won 250 games in UAA action, the most by any school in conference history … Burnett and Needle each made their first-career start … Washington U. leads the all-time series with Carnegie Mellon 38-7, and the Bears have won the last six meetings.