NEW CONCORD, Ohio (Interstat) — Carnegie Mellon used a decisive first-half surge and a strong closing effort to defeat Muskingum 81-70 in a men’s NCAA Division III basketball game Wednesday at Steele Center. A crowd of 319 saw the visiting Tartans improve to 2-0 while the home Fighting Muskies fell to 2-1.

Carnegie Mellon built a 42-29 halftime lead by knocking down perimeter shots and converting turnovers into quick offense. Muskingum opened with an Emig 3-pointer and two Terrell Darden free throws. Alex Lee’s layup got Carnegie Mellon on the board, and Alieu Ceesay’s two free throws gave Muskingum a 7-2 lead. The Tartans answered with an Aidan Mess hook shot, a Jameson 3-pointer, a Brandon Coury 3-pointer and another Jameson 3 that capped an 11-0 run and put Carnegie Mellon ahead 16-9. Kayden Goss hit consecutive 3-pointers late in the half, and Ian Brown added a 3-pointer and a layup before Jameson’s layup gave the Tartans a 42-29 advantage at the break.

Carnegie Mellon then opened the second half with Lee layups and a 3-pointer, a Mirazimi layup and an Isaac Higgs layup to push its advantage to 53-31. Oyegade’s tip-in and dunk highlighted a later run, and Jameson’s 3-pointer and Coury’s layup made it 64-39. Muskingum did not fold. Owen Emig led all scorers with 25 points, making six 3-pointers, and the Fighting Muskies trimmed a 25-point deficit to 75-62 on Nemiah Waugh’s layup with 1:57 remaining. Emig hit 3-pointers in the closing minutes, Coconis made a 3 and Ceesay converted a layup as Muskingum cut the gap to 77-67 with 50.9 seconds left. Jameson made four free throws down the stretch and Carnegie Mellon held on.

Emig finished with one rebound, two assists and a block in 33 minutes for Muskingum. Tosin Oyegade was Carnegie Mellon’s top star with four points, 12 rebounds, three assists and a block in 22 minutes. Jameson added 24 points in 28 minutes and made six 3-pointers. Evan Mirazimi had seven points, seven rebounds, two assists and a block in 27 minutes; Brandon Coury had seven points, four rebounds, four assists and a block in 22 minutes; Lee scored 13 points in 28 minutes; Mess scored eight points, grabbed two rebounds and added two assists in 19 minutes; Reed Coconis had three points, four rebounds and six assists for Muskingum; Ceesay scored 10 points, added three rebounds and one assist; and Brett Devault had two points, five rebounds, one assist and one block in 29 minutes. Carnegie Mellon’s Tosin Oyegade had nine points and 10 rebounds in the opener.

Carnegie Mellon finished 28 of 53 from the floor, 11 of 26 from 3-point range and 14 of 18 from the free throw line. Muskingum shot 27 of 63 overall, 10 of 35 from beyond the arc and 6 of 10 from the line. The Tartans had eight offensive rebounds, seven assists, four blocks, 12 turnovers and 14 fouls. The Fighting Muskies had seven offensive rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, nine turnovers and 16 fouls. Carnegie Mellon scored 81 points from 66 possessions for an offensive rating of 123.6. Muskingum scored 70 points from 70 possessions for an offensive rating of 100.4.

Carnegie Mellon, which opened with a 90-67 win over La Roche, improved to 2-0 and will next visit John Carroll before returning home for Penn State-Harrisburg. Muskingum, which had beaten Penn State Brandywine in overtime and Franklin & Marshall, dropped to 2-1 and will host Wooster before visiting La Roche in its next two scheduled contests.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Muskingum 79, Carnegie Mellon 74, and its ELO system had projected Muskingum with a 51.9 percent probability to win.