The Brandeis men’s basketball team had a successful weekend in the opening round of the New England Big Four Challenge. The Judges faced off against Salem State University in the first round. After the first half of the game there were seven ties and six lead changes and they ended the half trailing 32-29, but the Judges took control of the second half right away. Brandeis scored the first eight points of the second half and never trailed to Salem again. This lead was secured by Lawrence Sabir ’21 making a three-pointer, earning a two-point lead for the Judges, and then high scorer of the game Corey Sherman ’19 also hit three pointers with the next possession. Salem State managed to tie the game at 41-41 with only 12 and a half minutes of the game and Brandeis answered with an eight point run with no response from Salem State, featuring a trifecta from Colin Sawyer ’20 and Eric D’Aguanno ’20 to secure the win for the Judges.
Sherman led the Judges with 24 points, with 14 coming in the second half of the game and successfully hitting 8-of-11 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line. Sawyer had 18 points with 16 earned in the second half. He connected 6-of-10 overall and 4-of-4 from the line. D’Aguanno also hit double digits with 12 points with four 3-pointers. Chandler Jones ’21 earned double digits with 11 points and a game high with 10 rebounds. Brandeis’ bench came off strong, earning 31-17 with D’Aguanno and Jones outscoring Salem States reserves. Brandeis outshot Salem State 48.1 percent to 36.9 percent from the field and hit 84.2 percent of their free throws.
The Judges faced Babson in the second round the following day. The Judges came off strong with the hopes of earning their first Big Four title since 2012. Sherman earned a game high of 25 points with seven of them early on to open the game with an 11-2 run in the first four and a half minutes of the game. Babson responded with back-to-back three-pointers, but that did not sway the Judges’ confidence. The Judges went on a 16-3 run spanning over six minutes to get the advantage 27-11. Sherman scored 14 points with 6-of-8 shooting to get Brandeis 34-19 at the end of the first half. In the second half, D’Aguanno, Jones and Sherman all added triples as a part of the 11-2 run that secured the win for Brandeis at 70-48 lead with only three and half minutes left. Brandeis shot 47.3 percent for the game and limited Babson to 30.8 percent shooting to earn victory in the New England Big Four Challenge championship game. This improved the Judges to a 5-1 record this season. Brandeis improved to 23-21 all-time against Babson.
Sherman was selected as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player with 8-of-13 from the floor and six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Sherman also earned University Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. Jones was named to the All-Tournament Team.
