Men's hoops rain threes in 65-35 win over NYU

Men's hoops rain threes in 65-35 win over NYU

WALTHAM, Mass. - The Brandeis University men's basketball team connected on a season-high 13 3-pointers on 20 attempts (65 percent), while holding visiting New York University to its lowest point total of the campaign as the Judges took a 65-35 win from the Violets in University Athletic Association play. The win, Brandeis's largest-ever in the series between the two teams, lifted Brandeis to 8-5 overall, 2-1 in the UAA, while NYU fell to 10-3, 0-3 UAA.

Brandeis was on fire in the first half, connecting on 8-of-10 from beyond the arc. Six of their first seven buckets were trifectas, four coming from senior guard Kevin Olson (Rockport, Mass./Rockport) and two more from grad student Steve DeLuca (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack), as the Judges took a 20-10 lead after eight minutes. Junior Kenny Small (Stratford, Conn./Stratford) added two more 3-pointers in the first as Brandeis took a 31-14 lead at the break. The lead ballooned to as many as 36 points in the second half, with the Judges hitting 12 of their first 16 from downtown before missing 3-of-4.

Olson finished with a game-high 15 points, going 5-for-5 from beyond the arc but missing his two 2-point shots. He also just missed a season-high with six rebounds. Two Brandeis reserves scored in double figures as well. Small tallied 13 points on 4-of-6 from the field, 3-of-3 from deep and 2-of-2 from the line, while rookie Vytas Kriskus (Kvedarna, Lithuania/Holderness School) had 10 points and a career- and game-high nine rebounds in just 14 minutes. Junior guard Andre Roberson (Springfield, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson) added seven points and game-highs with seven assists and three steals. The win, which surpassed a 27-point triumph in 1989 as the largest for Brandeis against NYU, was the Judges' sixth in a row in the series.

NYU was paced off the bench by rookie center Andy Stein (Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Freedom), who had seven points on 3-of-3 shooting with a free throw. Sophomore guard D.J. Glavan (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Acad.) had six points. Stein and sophomore forward Richie Polan (Tarzana, Calif./Buckley School) tied for team-high honors with five rebounds each. Polan also led the Violets with three assists.

Brandeis is next in action with a non-conference match-up on Tuesday evening when they travel to ninth-ranked Amherst College at 7 p.m. in a rematch of last season's Elite Eight contest.

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