WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Brandeis men's basketball team opened the second half on a 16-5 run to turn an early three-point deficit into a 10-point advantage as the Judges defeated visiting New York University, 65-59, in the University Athletic Association (UAA) opener for both teams.
With the win, Brandeis improves to 10-2, 1-0 in the UAA with their third-straight win, while the Violets see a three-game winning streak of their own halted as they fall to 9-2, 0-1 UAA.
Both teams had three players scored in double figures. For Brandeis, junior guard Gabriel Moton (St. Petersburg, Fla./St. Petersburg) led all scorers with 19 points. He overcame a sluggish 3-for-12 performance from the field by hitting 2-of-4 from 3-point range and connecting on 11-of-11 from the line, the second-best performance in the UAA this season to date. Moton also had a game-high four assists.
Junior Alex Stoyle (Goffstown, N.H./Tilton School) added 16 points, a career-high, with 14 coming in the second half, when he was perfect, hitting all five of his attempts from the field, including all three from beyond the arc. Stoyle also led the Judges with six rebounds. Junior guard Derek Retos (No. Attleboro, Mass./Brimmer and May School) added 10 points off the bench, outscoring the NYU reserves all by himself. Brandeis owned a 19-7 edge in points off the bench. They also outshot the Violets, 46.7 percent (21-45) to 41.7 percent (20-48), but increased the advantage by hitting 55.6 percent in the second half (10-18).
NYU was led by senior center Devin Karch (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley), who had 16 points and seven rebounds, both team highs. Karch hit 7-of-12 from the field and both of his free-throw attempts. Junior guard Ryan Tana (Belmont, Calif./Junipero Serra) and senior Carl Yaffe (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) had 13 points each, while senior Kyle Stockmal (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) had seven points and a team-high three assists in his final game before his hometown crowd. Twin brother Cory had five points off the bench for the Violets.
NYU led by as many as 10 points in the first half, scoring eight unanswered points on a traditional three-point play on a Yaffe dunk, a Kyle Stockmal trifecta, followed by two free throws that gave the visitors a 14-6 lead less than eight minutes in. Two Cory Stockmal back-door lay-ups made it 18-8 with 9:58 to go in the first half.
Brandeis answered with the game's next nine points, kicking off the run with a 3-pointer by Retos. After junior center Youri Dascy (Fall River, Mass./St. Andrews School, R.I.) cut the deficit to one at 18-17 on nice feed from senior Anthony Trapasso (Sterling, Mass./St Johns Prep). Karch answered with a nice move underneath, but a 16-foot jumper by sophomore Ishmael Kalilou (Windsor, Conn./Taft School) and a turn-around bucket in the paint by Dascy put the lead back in Brandeis's hands, 21-20.
It didn't last for long, as Yaffe answered with a 3-pointer and a jumper that made it 25-21 in favor of the visitors. A late Karch lay-up on an assist from Kyle Stockmal should have made it a four-point lead for NYU headed into the locker room, but Moton got fouled on his half-court heave at the buzzer. He hit all three shots with no one on the lane to cut the lead to 28-27 at the break. Yaffe, Dascy and Moton all had eight points in the first half.
In the second, the teams had seven empty possessions between them before Karch's put-back with 17:17 on the clock made it a 30-27 lead for NYU. Stoyle answered with his first 3-pointer of the game to knot the contest, kicking off a stretch in which the Judges hit six of eight shots from the floor. Yaffe went back door to give the visitors a temporary two-point lead, but Brandeis scored 13 of the next 14 points to take the lead for good.
Stoyle tied it up with a lay-up and gave the Judges the lead for good from beyond the arc at the top of the key with 14:05 to go. A thunderous dunk from senior Wouter van der Eng (Alphen aun der rijn, The Netherlands/ Kimball Union Acad.) and a Moton trifecta pushed the lead to eight. After an NYU foul shot, Retos answered with a long trey that made it a 10-point game, 43-33, with 11:49 left. While the Violets were able to get within four points on a Karch lay-up about 90 seconds later, the visitors were never able to get within two possessions the rest of the way.
Brandeis returns to action on Jan. 11, when the Judges take on Carnegie Mellon at 8 p.m. in another UAA contest. NYU has a non-conference matchup with Hunter College on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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