To end off the month of January, the Brandeis men’s basketball team faced off against Emory University and the University of Rochester. Both games were decided by less than 10 points as the Judges ended up getting a win and a loss to end the month.
The game against Emory on Jan. 28, was full of offense. Emory started off with eight straight points to the Judges zero. Guard Colin Sawyer (GRAD) got the team on the board with a jump shot. However, the Judges remained down for the first 10 minutes of the game, as they were down 12-24 with a little over 10 minutes to play in the half. In the next two minutes, Brandeis went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to three. The two teams battled for the rest of the first half before ending with a score of 44-37 in favor of Emory. Sawyer led the team in points for the first half with 10. Forward Nolan Hagerty ’22 also had nine points and three rebounds in the first half. The second half again started with the Judges not getting points on the board as Emory started with a quick 6-0 run to make the deficit 13 for Brandeis. Ultimately, the Judges would not be able to mount a full comeback in the game as the score ended at 73-85. Sawyer had a season high of 26 points with three three-pointers made. This brought him to 200 career three pointers made. Hagerty had 11 points, two blocks, two steals, two assists and five rebounds. Senior forward Chandler Jones ’22 played very well off the bench with 11 points and seven rebounds. In a short stint, freshman forward Toby Harris ’25 had six points from two three-pointers.
Two days later, the Judges faced Rochester and started the game differently to their game against Emory. Guard Dylan Lien ’23 had seven points in the first four minutes as he led the team to a quick 10-1 start. The team’s offense stalled for a few minutes before Hagerty got the team going again with a dunk on an assist by forward Tommy Eastman (GRAD). Brandeis maintained a lead for 15 minutes of the first half before a few misses turned into momentum for Rochester. After giving up the lead, the Judges would not take it back before the end of the half as Brandeis was behind 27-32. Following half time, the two teams were neck and neck for the entire half. With a minute left to play, the two teams were tied at 57-57. Brandeis took the lead on an Eastman free throw. A few seconds later, Eastman would come up with a steal, which led to a three-pointer from Sawyer. The team turned around to play defense and Sawyer came up with the steal leading to two free throws from Lien. Rochester cut the lead to four on a jump shot before Jones came in for the block to deny Rochester from a layup. Eastman and Lien made free throws to close out the game as Brandeis defeated Rochester 66-61. Lien led the team in scoring with 16, while Eastman had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Sawyer had 14 points and two three-pointers. Hagerty came off the bench and scored 12.
The Judges look to take this momentum into the weekend as they face Emory and Rochester for a second time.
