ATLANTA, Ga. -- The 19th-ranked Brandeis University men's basketball team saw its second seven-game winning streak of the season come to a halt tonight, as the Judges suffered a 69-55 loss at the hands of Emory University in a University Athletic Association (UAA) contest. With the loss, the Judges fall to 14-3, 5-1 in the UAA. The Eagles improve to 12-4, 4-2 UAA with their sixth win in the past seven meetings with Brandeis.
Brandeis led by as many as eight points in the first half, going ahead 18-10 on a Colby Smith (No. Andover, Mass./No. Andover) layup just under 12 minutes into the contest. Emory responded with 11 of the next 12 points of their own, as Jake Davis hit a 3-pointer in the run and gave the Eagles a 21-19 lead with two free throws at the 4:44 mark. The Judges bounced back with seven-straight points, with a Gabriel Moton (St. Petersburg, Fla./St. Petersburg) trifecta giving them the lead back and two Ben Bartoldus (Hillsborough, N.H./Proctor Acad.) buckets moving the lead to 26-21 at 3:14. Emory returned the favor, however, scoring the final eight points. The Eagles took advantage of three Brandeis turnovers, as Davis converted a traditional three-point play and Alex Greven's trifecta with 41 seconds left before the break gave EU a 29-26 lead. Davis led all scorers with 12 first-half points for Emory, while Moton and Alex Stoyle (Goffstown, N.H./Tilton School) had six each for the Judges.
Brandeis, which had come from behind in each of its previous two road wins, fell behind by eight just five minutes into the second half of this one, when Emory's Alex Foster connected from deep to give the hosts a 40-32 lead. The Judges answered with an eight-point flurry of their own, sparked again with a Moton bomb and capped by a lay-up and free throw by Bartoldus at 13:15 that knotted the game at 40.
At that point, the Judges went cold from the floor, hitting just three field goals the rest of the way. Michael Florin gave Emory the lead back with a traditional three-point play of his own to give the Eagles the lead for good. They held Brandeis to just 21 percent shooting (3-14) in the final stretch of the game while connecting on 12-of-22 themselves (55 percent). Florin had all of his nine points for the game in the final 13 minutes, while Greven had eight.
For the game, Moton led Brandeis with 14 points, but he was the only Judge in double figures, only the second time they didn't have more than one player score at least 10 points this season. Bartoldus was just short with nine. Junior center Youri Dascy (Fall River, Mass./St. Andrews, R.I., School) led the Judges with five rebounds, while three others had four each as the visitors lost the battle of the boards by one, 33-32. Smith tied for game-high honors with three assists. Brandeis, which had shot 51 percent from the floor in the second half in their previous UAA games, was held to 35 percent in this one. They also struggled from the line, hitting 11-of-20 (55% from the line).
Emory put three starters in double figures, as Davis scored a game-high 18. Friedberg added 15 points, while Greven had 14 points and a game-high six rebounds. Davis also matched Smith with three assists for the game. The Eagles shot 47 percent from the field (28-60), including 52 percent in the second half (16-31). The 40 points EU scored in the second half was the second-highest total the Judges have allowed in a half all season.
Brandeis will look to bounce back from their first UAA loss when they take on second-ranked and undefeated Rochester on Sunday at noon. The Yellowjackets are one game ahead of the Judges in the UAA standings.