The Brandeis men’s basketball team had ups and downs all season through various winning and losing streaks and game cancellations due to the coronavirus. However, overall, the team finished the season strong with four consecutive wins and won five out of their last eight games of the season. The team finished the season 6-7 in the conference and 15-9 overall.
On Feb. 11, the team faced off against Carnegie Mellon as they looked to build off their strong defensive game against Connecticut College. The game was very close through the first half as both teams went back and forth scoring and playing solid defense. This resulted in a 32-28 lead for Carnegie Mellon at the end of the first half. Carnegie Mellon was beating Brandeis in most offensive categories, however the game remained close. The Judges struggled to shoot efficiently in the first half. Brandeis forward Tommy Eastman (GRAD) shot just one-sixth from the field in the first half. Guard Colin Sawyer (GRAD) led the Judges in scoring with eight. The second half again was close, but the Brandeis shooting was still not consistent. Carnegie Mellon shot over 50 percent from the field, while Brandeis shot under 35 percent. The Judges kept the game close through 14 offensive rebounds and fewer turnovers compared to Carnegie Mellon. Sawyer hit five threes in the second half, but this was not enough as Brandeis fell to Carnegie Mellon 72-78. Sawyer finished the game with 26 points and six three pointers made. Eastman and forward Nolan Haggerty ’22 both finished the game with 11 points. Forward Toby Harris ’25 had eight points and seven rebounds from the bench.
Following the loss against Carnegie Mellon, the Judges looked to bounce back with a win against Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). For the first 14 minutes of the game, both teams were even. Then slowly, CWRU began to build a lead as the Judges began to make a few simple mistakes. Brandeis was not shooting poorly in the first half, but they had many fouls and turnovers down the stretch that led to a 31-42 deficit. Eastman had nine points and seven rebounds in the first half. Guard Sam Nassar ’22 and Harris both had five points off the bench. The team overall had seven turnovers and eight fouls in the first half. Brandeis began the comeback in the second half with a quick layup from Sawyer and a steal leading to a layup from guard Dylan Lien ’23. Defense was going to be key for the Judges if they wanted to make a comeback. The Judges began to make a comeback as they put pressure on the ball as they attempted to force turnovers. This strategy worked well as Brandeis had six steals in the half and CWRU had 13 turnovers overall. Even though Brandeis was forcing turnovers, CWRU continued to shoot very efficiently from the field. In the second half, CWRU shot a staggering 59.1 percent from the field. So even though the Judges were halting possessions, it seemed like CWRU just could not miss when they did shoot the ball. The result was a 66-80 loss for Brandeis. Eastman led the team in scoring with 18. Overall, the CWRU offense was too much for the Judges to handle as they had 20 assists in the game compared to the Judges nine.
After two consecutive losses, the Judges looked to end the streak with a home win against Emmanuel College. The streak looked to be over as Brandeis started the game off with a 23-5 run in the first half. They continued to pour it on as Emmanuel could not stop the Judges on offense. This resulted in a 48-24-point lead for Brandeis at the end of the first half. Brandeis shot exceptionally well from three, as they were 10/20 from three-point range. Lien had four threes from the bench to give him 12 points in the first half. Harris also had 12 points from the bench as he missed only two of his seven shots. Eastman led the team at scoring in the half with 16 points. The Brandeis defense overall was strong as they held Emmanuel under 30 percent shooting for the half. In the second half the Judges were not as efficient shooting, but they continued to hold their lead. Guard Darret Justice ’23 had seven points off the bench in the second half and Harris resumed his strong game with another seven points. The Judges ended up winning the game 79-49 as they passed and rebounded the ball well. Brandeis had 24 assists to Emmanuel’s eight. They also had 17 more rebounds than Emmanuel. Harris had an all-around great game as he had 19 points while shooting 72.7 percent from the field. He also had 10 rebounds giving him a double-double for the game. Eastman was just shy of the double-double as he had 18 points and nine rebounds in the game.
Two days later, the Judges faced off against the University of Chicago. Brandeis started the game off slow which gave Chicago a 7-2 lead. An Eastman layup and Nassar three woke up the offense and suddenly both teams were neck and neck. The two teams traded blows and ended the first half with Chicago barely winning 32-30. Eastman had a strong start to the game as he had 10 points and five rebounds in the first half. The Judges took the lead less than two minutes into the second half on layups from Eastman and Sawyer. They held the lead until there was under eight minutes remaining in the game. Chicago would not give the lead back for the rest of the game as they proceeded to win 78-75. Even though they lost, Sawyer and Eastman made life very difficult for Chicago in the second half as they combined to score 34 points. This effort was outweighed by a very efficient Chicago offense. Chicago shot 64 percent from the field and 60 percent from three in the second half. Sawyer finished the game with 26 points and three assists. Eastman once again nearly had a double-double, as he ended the game with 24 points and nine rebounds. Hagerty had 10 points and did not miss a shot throughout the entire game.
In the team’s second to last home game of the season, they faced off against Washington University (WashU). Earlier on in the season, the Judges lost to WashU in St. Louis, so they prepared for a revenge game at home. The game was also the team’s Senior Day. Brandeis looked outmatched early in the game as WashU built a 12-4 lead, however solid defense allowed the Judges to make a comeback. Brandeis took the lead with under seven minutes left in the half and never looked back. The Judges finished the half with a 41-31 lead. In the Senior Day game, the seniors had high quality starts. Sawyer and Eastman both had seven points. Hagerty had eight points without missing a shot. Nassar had two points and four assists. The second half was highlighted by a dominant offensive effort from Hagerty. He had 12 points and six offensive rebounds. Lien provided an offensive spark off the bench with 12 points. The two teams were even for most of the game, but the Judges got their revenge through an 84-65 victory. A key to the second half for the Judges was their ability to get to the free throw line. The team shot 10 more free throws than WashU. Hagerty had an all-around great game with 20 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Eastman shot very well and had 16 points.
Three days later, the Judges had another revenge game, but this time against Carnegie Mellon. Both teams started off the first half with inconsistencies with their offense. That was until the Judges went on a 10-0 run to give them a 21-10 lead with under three minutes remaining in the half. Carnegie Mellon closed the gap, but the Judges still held the lead of 23-18. Justice, Nassar and Harris all had five points to lead the team in scoring in the first half. Sawyer and Eastman struggled to get their offensive game going as they both shot below 20 percent from the field. Even with shooting inefficiency, Brandeis held the lead, partly because Carnegie Mellon also struggled with their shooting efficiency. In the second half, Sawyer completely turned his game around as he hit two threes and scored 12 points. Lien once again provided an offensive spark from the bench as he hit all four of his three-point attempts in the half. Eastman also put his early game shooting woes behind him with seven points. The team dominated the second half on offense as they shot 63 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from three. This offense might have influenced their defense as they also held Carnegie Mellon to under 35 percent shooting from the field. Sawyer and Lien led the team in scoring with 12 points. Harris also added 11 points from the bench. Although the Brandeis’ offense was strong in the second half, the key to the revenge game was the great defense against the Carnegie Mellon forwards that stagnated their offense.
In the team’s final away game of the season, the Judges faced off against New York University (NYU). The first half saw no team getting a clear advantage. With just over five minutes left in the first half, the Judges built a solid seven-point lead of 25-18, however NYU made a comeback that resulted in just a 29-28 lead for Brandeis at the end of the first half. The Judges shot the ball very well in the first half as they had a 50 percent field goal percentage. This high shooting efficiency was highlighted by guard Austin Clamage (GRAD), who had eight points on zero misses, and Hagerty with 11 points and no misses. The reason the game was so close was due to the turnovers and fouls from Brandeis. They had 11 turnovers and 10 fouls in just the first half alone. This gave NYU ample opportunity to stay in the game even though they were not shooting the ball well. The turnovers needed to be mitigated for Brandeis to win the game. In the second half, they did just that as they had just five fouls. Brandeis came out in the second half composed, while NYU was overly aggressive. NYU had multiple shooting fouls early and this resulted in easy points for Brandeis. One foul especially from NYU resulted in three free throws for the Judges and Sawyer proceeded to make all three attempts. The aggressiveness led to 34 total free throw attempts from the Judges in the half. NYU had 21 fouls in the half. Brandeis narrowly defeated NYU 76-72 in their last away game of the season. Four Brandeis players had double digit points in the game. Harris had 11, Sawyer had 12, Clamage had 13 and Hagerty had 21. Hagerty also had 12 rebounds which gave him another double-double.
For the final game of the season, the Judges played a rescheduled game against NYU on Feb. 27. This game was clearly the Sawyer show. In the first half he had 16 points and four three pointers. Although Sawyer shined the brightest, the team overall played well offensively as they shot over 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from three. Eastman added 11 points as Brandeis held a 39-28 lead at the end of the first half in their final game of the season. In the second half, NYU came roaring back, as they cut the deficit to two with 11 minutes remaining in the game. It was as if Sawyer just said “no” to the comeback as he took over the game. Over the next five minutes Sawyer scored 11 points all on jump shots. It just seemed like he could not miss. His shooting was contagious as Brandeis went on a 19-0 run. The comeback was halted and soon after, the season ended on a high as Brandeis won 74-57. Sawyer in his final game with Brandeis had 29 points and seven three pointers. Eastman in his final game had 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Hagerty’s final game was an all-around great effort as he had eight points, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Nassar had four points, four rebounds and three assists in his final game. Clamage’s final game saw him play solid defense as he had two steals to go along with his eight points and six rebounds.
Following the close of the season, three Brandeis men’s basketball players were awarded All-University Athletic Association honors for the 2021-22 season. Sawyer was named to the second-team All-UAA for the first time. He averaged 15.7 points per game while making just under 3 three pointers per game. Eastman was also named to the second-team All-UAA. He led the team in scoring with 15.8 points per game. Haggerty was named an honorable mention All-UAA. He averaged 10.6 points per game while shooting a team leading 59.3 percent from the field.
This was six players’ final year on the Brandeis men’s basketball team. Forward Chandler Jones ’22, Clamage, Sawyer, Nassar, Eastman and Hagerty all have played their last game for the team. This list includes the top four leading scorers and top four leaders in assists for the team. Haggerty, Eastman and Jones also led the team in rebounds per game. So, the team is losing some of its top players. The Judges have many players though that have shown flashes that may indicate steps in the right direction. Harris had a higher three-point percentage than Sawyer and was right behind Eastman in overall shooting percentage this season. Lien also showed what he could do in his various stints of playing time off the bench.
The team finished an overall good season with a win streak of four as they look to build off this season moving forward.
