Before winter break, the Brandeis men’s basketball team played four games in the month of December. On Dec. 3, the team played in the New England Big Four Challenge against Babson College.
In the first half, both teams were very even, as the score was 30-25. Guard Colin Sawyer (GRAD) led the team in scoring with 12 points. Forward Chandler Jones ’22 came off the bench and added eight points and three rebounds. Both teams had inconsistent shooting as Babson shot 37.9 percent from the field, while Brandeis shot just 33.3 percent. The key difference came from the Judges’ 3-point shooting as Brandeis had four more 3-pointers in the first half.
The second half started with just a five-point lead from Brandeis. Both teams saw increased shooting efficiency, and this resulted in 40 points from Babson in the second half and 42 from Brandeis. This led to a 72-65 win for the Judges in the New England Big Four Challenge opener. The second-half scoring for Brandeis was led by guard Dylan Lien ’23 as he added 11 points and three assists in the half. Overall, the Judges beat Babson in all aspects of the game. Brandeis outrebounded them by eight and had nine more free throw attempts.
On Dec. 4, the Judges faced off against Tufts University in a quintuple overtime championship game. Both teams had limited scoring within the first half as the Judges had 25 points and Tufts had 21. Sawyer led the team in scoring with six. Forward Nolan Hagerty ’22 led the team in rebounds with five. The team had eight more rebounds than Tufts in the first half.
Going into the second half of the championship game, the Judges looked to maintain their four-point lead. With three seconds remaining, Tufts tied the game to move to overtime. Sawyer and Hagerty led the team in scoring with 12 and 11, respectively. Jones had six points off the bench in the half. However, the team shot just 35.5 percent from the field.
The game was locked for four consecutive overtime periods. This led the teams to remain tied going into their fifth overtime period. In the fifth overtime, Brandeis went right after Tufts and attempted to get to the free-throw line as much as possible. Forward Toby Harris ’25 accomplished this as he had eight points in the period with five of them coming from the free-throw line. The team overall had 11 points in the overtime period just from the free-throw line. Overall, the game ended with a score of 108-102.
On Dec. 7 the Judges faced Lasell University. The Judges took the lead quickly in the first half and did not look back. Brandeis took 43 points compared to Lasell’s 23. Sawyer and Harris had 10 points in the half with Hagerty adding six points and six rebounds. Overall, the team shot 58.6 percent from the field. In the second half, the Judges continue to push their lead. They shot well overall 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line. Harris had another 10 points in the first half. Guard Austin Clamage (GRAD) had six points after coming off the bench while not missing a single shot. The final score of the game was 88-44 in favor of Brandeis.
In the team’s final game before going on winter break, the Judges faced off against Colby College. The first half saw both teams’ neck and neck as the score was 30-29 with Brandeis leading by one point. Jones led the team in scoring with eight and was followed by sophomore Ryan Power ’24 who had seven points. The second half saw the lead slip away from Brandeis as the team was down by seven points with three minutes in the game. However, the Judges made a strong comeback within the last three minutes. Jones finished the comeback with a clutch free throw with three seconds remaining to take a one-point lead. Colby College would not get another shot off leading to a final score of 69-68.
Since that game, the team has not played another game due to the games being postponed.
