St. Louis, Mo. – The No. 22 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team held off a late Tartans' surge and finished things off strong, defeating Carnegie Mellon 95-87 on Friday evening.
 
Prior to the game, the Bears honored the late Justin Hardy and the HardyStrong Foundation, presenting a donation to the foundation raised by the WashU Community.
 
WashU was led by sophomore Will Grudzinski, who scored 21 points to go with nine rebounds. Senior Jabari Chiphe scored a career-high 16 points and pulled down four boards while junior Kyle Beedon had 15 points and three assists. Junior Hayden Doyle also reached double-figures with 13 points and a game-high four assists.
 
The Bears opened with a 5-0 run behind a jumper from sophomore Yogi Oliff and a 3-pointer from Grudzinski.
 
After going up 10-4 following a 3-pointer from Grudzinski with 16:15 on the clock, the Tartans netted six-straight to tie the game at 10 apiece. A 3-pointer from Justin Allen put CMU ahead 13-10 and a free throw from Allen made it a four-point Tartans' lead with 13:01 left in the first.
 
The Bears tied it up at 16 following a layup from Oliff and a jumper from Grudzinski. The game was tied again at 18 and a jumper from Grudzinski gave WashU a 20-18 edge.
 
Carnegie Mellon took a 24-22 edge with 8:00 remaining but the Bears followed with a 9-0 run, starting with a 3-pointer from Chiphe. First-year Jake Davis put in a layup, was fouled and made the ensuing free throw. Junior Hayden Doyle drained a shot from distance to put WashU up 31-24.
 
The Tartans followed with a 6-2 run to tie the game at 33 apiece with just under five left to play in the first half. The score was tied again at 37 and 40, followed by back-to-back buckets from Chiphe and Doyle, giving WashU a 44-40 edge.
 
CMU brought it down to a two-point difference but Beedon drilled a longball with four seconds remaining to go up 47-42 at the half.
 
The Bears opened the second half with four-straight on baskets from sophomore Calvin Kapral and Grudzinski, going up 51-42. A 3-pointer and jumper from Beedon gave WashU its first double-digit lead of the game with 17:08 on the clock, 56-45.
 
WashU remained up by 11 with 14:16 remaining until the Tartans went on an 11-0 run to tie the game at 65 with 10:44 left.
 
Beedon ended the run with a shot from distance and Doyle hit the tail end of a pair of free throws for a slight 69-65 edge. The Bears were up no more than four points over the next several minutes but a Chiphe 3-pointer at 5:01 made it a five-point, 80-75 game.
 
The Tartans went on a 6-0 run to take an 81-80 lead with just under four minutes to play. A layup from Davis gave WashU the lead again and Chiphe followed that with a pair of free throws.
 
Up one with 2:46 on the clock, the Bears scored seven-straight points, starting with a 3-pointer from Grudzinski. Doyle followed with a jumper and Oliff put in a fastbreak layup for the 91-83 lead at the 1:17 mark.
 
After a Tartans' bucket, Davis laid one in and Grudzinski hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining to put the Bears up double-digits, 95-85. A jumper from CMU's Jack Stone with one second remaining ended things with a WashU win.
 
The Bears host No. 2 Case Western Reserve University on Sunday at 12 p.m.