Men's basketball picks up tough UAA road win at WashU, 69-66

Jordan Cooper '18 (Photo courtesy Mary Butkus/WUSTL)
Jordan Cooper '18 (Photo courtesy Mary Butkus/WUSTL)

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Brandeis men's basketball team pulled out a second-straight University Athletic Association victory tonight, as the Judges went on the road to defeat Washington University in St. Louis, 69-66, in the WU Field House. The Judges got 43 points combined from sophomore Jordan Cooper (Weston, Fla./Sagemont School) and junior Robinson Vilmont (Cambridge, Mass./Wilbraham and Monson), as the duo combined to score 30 of the team's 38 second-half points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • The game was tied at 8-all early on when Brandeis went on a 14-5 run over a span of six minutes to take their biggest lead of the game, 22-13, on a Cooper 3-pointer with 9:25 on the clock.
  • Cooper and junior Jack Fay (New Rochelle, N.Y./Suffield Acad.) each had five points in the run.
  • After Fay hit a 3-pointer with 7:35 remaining, WashU held Brandeis to just two field goals the rest of the way in the first.
  • The hosts eventually took a brief 31-30 lead from the line on two Andrew Sanders free throws with just under a minute left before the Judges hit 1-of-2 to knot the game at 31-31 headed into the locker room.
  • Sanders opened the second half with two free throws to give Washington a 33-31 lead.
  •  Vilmont drained a 3-pointer on the next possession and the Judges never trailed again.
  • The Judges led by seven points on a couple of occasions in the second half, but couldn't pull away.
  • Brandeis senior Colby Smith (No. Andover, Mass./No. Andover) hit a free throw with 7:35 remaining that made it 57-51 in favor of the Judges.
  • WashU answered with a 7-2 run, but Sanders missed his second foul shot at the 4:47 mark that could have tied it up.
  • Vilmont and Cooper scored the game's next six points, with Smith adding a steal, an assist and a key offensive rebound in the stretch to push the advantage back to seven at 65-58 with 2:33 left.
  • The Bears' Luke Silverman-Lloyd gave the hosts some life with a 3-pointer 16 seconds later.
  • Vilmont hit one free throw at the 1:37 mark, but the Bears' full-court pressure produced two freebies by Sanders with 1:06 left to get the hosts within one possession at 66-63.
  • Brandeis hit just 3-of-7 from the line in the final two minutes, but one of those misses was rebounded by Smith, allowing the Judges to run more time off the clock.
  • Vilmont added two more freebies with 26 seconds left to make it 69-63, but Sanders converted a traditional three-point play giving the Bears one last breath.
  • After the Judges missed their next two from the line with just under 10 seconds to go, they were able to recover on defense and not allow Washington a good look at the basket on a potential game-tying shot.

FOR BRANDEIS

  • Cooper scored a team-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting overall, 2-of-4 from deep and 3-of-4 from the line. He also had five rebounds and a team- and career-high five assists.
  • Cooper was one point shy of a career-high, set last game against Emory.
  • Vilmont finished with 20 points on 8-of-16 overall, 1-of-5 from deep and 3-of-6 from the line.
  • The UAA's leader in minutes played, Vilmont was limited to just four points in seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.
  • Cooper (14 points) and Vilmont (16 points) combined for 30 of the team's 38 second-half points, when they hit 11-of-19 from the field.
  • Smith and junior Tim Reale (Mason, Ohio/St. Andrews, R.I.) tied for team-high honors with six rebounds each.
  • Smith also had four assists and a game-high three steals.

FOR WASHINGTON U.

  • Sanders led all players with a career-high 23 points and 12 rebounds.
  • He scored 13 in the first half, 10 in the second.
  • Silverman-Lloyd reached double figures with 15 points.
  • Jake Knupp and Kevin Kucera each had four assists for the Bears.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

  • Brandeis outshot WashU, 52.1% (25-48) to 36.2% (21-58) from the field.
  • It was the Judges' third-best shooting performance of the season , and tied for the worst of the campaign by the Bears.
  • The Judges won the battle of the boards, 37-33.
  • Brandeis committed 12 turnovers to just 9 for WashU, but the Judges were more efficient, converting theirs into 12 points while giving up just eight.
  • This was the Judges' first win in St. Louis since 2013.
  • Brandeis snapped a five-game losing streak in their series with the Bears.

UP NEXT

  • Brandeis (8-7, 2-2 UAA) heads to the University of Chicago for an 11 a.m. Central (12 noon Eastern) start on Sunday.
  • Washington (10-5, 2-2 UAA) meets NYU at noon Central.