This past weekend, the men’s basketball team defeated Case Western Reserve and Carnegie Mellon 77-58 and 69-62, respectively, to remain undefeated in UAA conference play. With the wins, they push their record to 12-2 (3-0 UAA) on the season and close in on a national ranking as they currently sit just nine votes out of the top 25.
In their game against Case Western, the Judges put on an offensive clinic, shooting 59.3 percent for the game and a staggering 73.7 percent in the second half. While Brandeis only led the visitors by four points at the break, they drained 10 of their first 12 shots to open up the second half, including nine shots in a row to balloon their lead to 11 points, 50-39. Derek Retos ’14, Ben Bartoldus ’14 and Gabriel Moton ’14 scored all of the Judges’ points during the run. And with two free throws, Retos ended the run.
The Spartans fought back, scoring two of the next three shots; however, Brandeis quickly responded with a 13-3 run to stretch their lead to a game-high 19 points, 65-46, behind two free throws from Moton. With just seven minutes remaining in the game, the Judges cruised to the win.
The Judges had four players scoring double figures with Moton and Retos tying for game-high honors with 17 points; Bartoldus finished with 13 points; and Ishmael Kalilou ’15 scored 10 points off of the bench.
Moton also led all players with seven rebounds while Bartoldus grabbed five boards as the Judges dominated Case Western on the glass with a 35-23 advantage.
Alex Stoyle ’14 led the Judges with three assists as 10 different players registered an assist on 16 of their 26 baskets.
Earlier in the week, Kalilou came off the bench to lead the Judges to a 69-62 win over Carnegie Mellon. He was 4-of-8 from the field and 8-of-9 from the line scoring a career-high 16 points in just 14 minutes of play off of the bench. Kalilou outscored the entire Tartans’ bench by two points.
While the game was tight at times, Brandeis responded with a key run when it was needed. In a back and forth first half that featured three ties and six lead changes, the Judges closed the half on an 11-5 run to go into the break ahead by five points, 29-24.
Coming out of the locker room, it appeared the Judges had put the game away with a 9-3 burst to stretch their lead to 11, 38-27; however, to the Tartans’ credit, they refused to fold, scoring the game’s next eight points to cut their deficit to just three points. But once again, Brandeis responded, going on an 11-2 run that featured eight points from Kalilou in just two minutes to push the lead to 13 points, 52-39.
Carnegie extended the game behind some clutch three-pointers and missed foul shots by the Judges, but they were never able to make it a one-possession game.
Moton joined Kalilou in double figures for the game with 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from the free throw line while Bartoldus and Stoyle each dropped 10 points.
Stoyle barely missed his first collegiate double-double as he grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while Connor Arnold ’14 matched his career high with eight boards, including four on the offensive glass. Colby Smith ’16 tied the game-high with four assists.
The Judges once again dominated their opponent on the glass with a 43-28 advantage as well as outscoring them from the free throw line 25-10.
Brandeis now enters a key stretch of their season with four upcoming UAA road games. Sitting at 12-2 on the season, the Judges are knocking on the door of a top 25 national ranking. A strong road trip would propel the Judges into the top 25 as they look to finish the season strong and accomplish their ultimate goal of not just making the NCAA tournament but winning it all.
